[' LIBRARY U F CONGRE SS. \ 

'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



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THE 



ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



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BY 

GEO. E. WARING, Jr., 

AUTHOR OF "DRAINING FOR PROFIT AND DRAINING FOR HEALTH, 1 ' 

FORMERLY AGRICULTURAL ENGINEER OF THE CENTRAL 

PARK JN NEW YORK. 



The effort to extend the dominion of man over nature is the most healthy and 
most noble of all ambitions. — Bacon. 



SECOND AND EEVISED EDITION. 



NEW YORK: - 
THE TRIBUNE ASSOCIATION, 
154 NASSAU STREET. 
1868. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 

GEO. E. WARING, Jr., 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for tho 
Southern District of New York. 



The New York Printing Company, 

81, 83, and 85 Centre Street, 

New York. 



CONTENTS. 



Section -first. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGK 

Introduction 11 

CHAPTER II. 
The Atmosphere and its Carbon 14 

CHAPTER III. 

Hydrogen and Oxygen 21 

Nitrogen 22 

Ammonia 23 

CHAPTER IV. 

Earthy Matter 27 

Alkalies 28 

Potash 28 

Soda 29 

Lime 29 

Magnesia .' 30 

Acids — Phosphoric Acid 30 

Sulphuric Acid 31 

Silicic Acid, or Silica 32 

Neutrals — Chlorine 33 

Oxide of Iron 33 

CHAPTER V. 
Growth 34 

CHAPTER VI. 

Starch, Woody-Fibre, Gluten, etc 39 

Animals , 42 

CHAPTER VII. 

Location of the Different Parts, and Variations in the Ashes 
of Plants 46 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Recapitulation 49 



IV CONTENTS. 

Section Secono. 

THE SOIL. 
CHAPTEE I. 

PAGE 

Formation and Character of the Soil 57 

Geology , 64 

CHAPTER II. 
Uses of Atmospheric Matter 66 

CHAPTER III. 

Uses of Earthy Matter 72 

Subsoil 74 

Improvement 75 



Section £l)iro. 

m: a. n xj r e s. 

chapter i. 

Character and Varieties of Manures 81 

CHAPTER II. 

Animal Excrement 84 

Digestion and its Products 85 

CHAPTER III. 

Waste of Manure 88 

Evaporation 88 

Leaching 93 

CHAPTER IV. 

Absorbents 95 

Charcoal ." 95 

Muck and its Treatment 97 

Lime and Salt Mixture 99 

Lime 100 

Potash 101 

CHAPTER V. 

Composting Stable Manure 101 

Shelter ,102 

The Floor 103 

Tank 1 03 

Liquid Manure 110 

CHAPTER VI. 

Different kinds of Animal Excrement 110 

Stable Manure Ill 

Recapitulation 112 



CONTENTS. V 

PAGE 

Night Soil 113 

Hog Manure 115 

Poultry-house Manure 110 

Sheep Manure 118 

Guano 118 

CHAPTER VII. 

Other Organic Manures 120 

Dead animals 120 

Bones 121 

Fish 121 

Woollen Rags, etc 122 

Organic Manures of Vegetable Origin 1 23 

Spent Tan-bark 124 

Sawdust and Soot 125 

Green Crops 120 

Absorption of Moisture 128 

Distribution of Manures .129 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Mineral Manures 130 

CHAPTER IX 

Deficiencies of Soils, Means of Restoration, etc 135 

Alkalies — Potash 13G 

Soda 138 

Lime 140 

Plaster of Paris 147 

Chloride of Lime 147 

Magnesia 148 

Acids — Sulphuric Acid 148 

Phosphoric Acid 150 

Bones 153 

Super-Phosphate of Lime 150 

Silicic Acid 100 

Neutrals — Chlorine 100 

Oxide of Iron , 101 

Oxide of Manganese 101 

Various other Earthy Manures — Leached Ashes 102 

Old Mortar 102 

Gas House Lime, etc 103 

Soapers' Ley and Bleachers' Ley 104 

Irrigation 104 

Mixing Soils 107 

CHAPTER X. 

Atmospheric Fertilizers 109 

Ammonia 170 

Carbonic Acid 172 

Oxygen 173 

Water 174 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XL 

PAGE 

Recapitulation 174 

Section lonttl). 

MECHANIC AT-i CULTIVATION. 

CHAPTER I. 
The Mechanical Character of Soils 181 

CHAPTER II. 

Under-Draining 182 

Tile Draining 184 

CHAPTER in. 

Advantages of Under-Draining 187 

CHAPTER IV. 
SuV Joil Plowing 200 

CHAPTER V. 

Plowing and other Processes for Pulverizing the Soil 206 

Plowing 206 

The Harrow and Cultivator 210 

CHAPTER VI. 

Rolling, Mulching, Weeding, etc 211 

Rolling 211 

Mulching 212 

Weeding ^ 216 

Cultivators 218 

Improved Horse-Hoe 219 



Section inftlj. 

ANALYSIS. 

CHAPTER I. 
Analysis 225 

CHAPTER II. 
Tables of Analysis 228 

The Practical Farmer 245 

Explanation op Terms 253 



The first edition of this book was written in 1853, when 
the writer was full of the enthusiasm that comes with the 
first years of study ; when a very elementary knowledge 
of the subjects of which it treats made the whole plan of 
vegetation, cultivation, and manuring seem easy and simple. 
In some instances, rather vague fancies were presented as 
sound theories; and the perplexing uncertainties which 
beset the path of the more thorough student were ignored — 
because unknown. 

The observation and experience of the intervening years 
have sadly clouded some of these fancies, and the veil which 
hangs about the true theories of agriculture has grown 
harder to penetrate, — the difficulties in the way of precise 
knowledge have not lessened with closer acquaintance. 

Notwithstanding its faults, the book received a very cor- 
dial welcome at the hands of the public, — more because 
such a book was much needed, than because of its real 
value, and it ought, long ago, to have been rewritten. 

The present edition has been carefully revised, and it is 
believed that its doctrines are such as the positive teachings 
of chemistry, and the more enlightened practice of farming, 
will justify ; still, it is offered with more hesitation than was 



its predecessor, and it is only offered at all because there 
exists a sad deficiency in this department of our agricul- 
tural literature. 

The place that it is intended to fill is occupied by no 
other work. It is not an agricultural chemistry, nor is it a 
hand-book of the processes of every-day farming ; — only an 
attempt to translate into common language, for the use of 
every-day farmers, that which science has discovered and 
has told in its own necessarily technical terms, and which 
practical experience has proven to be of practical value. 

The facts which it sets forth lie at the very ground-work 
of the art of farming, and they are necessary to the business 
education of every farmer. On the universal importance of 
these facts the book must depend for its success ; and for 
their sake, — not because of its own -merit, — it is confidently 
offered to the young farmers of America, as being worthy 
of their most careful study. 

Ogden Farm, 

Newport, R. I., 1868. 



SECTION FIRST. 

THE PLANT. 



SECTION FIRST. 

THE PLANT. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The object of cultivating the soil is to raise from it 
a crop of plants. In order to cultivate with economy, 
we must raise the largest possible quantity tvith the 
least expense, and without permanent injury to the 
soil. 

Before this can be done we must study the char- 
acter of plants, and learn their exact composition. 
They are not created by a mysterious power, they 
are merely made up of matters already in existence. 
They take up water containing food and other mat- 
ters, and discharge from their roots, or their leaves, 
or deposit within their pores, those substances that 
are not required for their growth. It is necessary 
for us to know what kind of matter is required as 
food for the plant, and whence it is to be obtained ; 
this we can learn only through such means as shall 
separate the elements of which plants are composed ; 



12 THE PLANT. 

in other words, we must take them apart, and exam- 
ine the different pieces of which they are made up. 

If we burn any vegetable substance it disappears, 
except a small quantity of earthy matter, which con- 
stitutes the ashes. In this way we make the first 
division between the two distinct classes of the con- 
stituents of plants. One portion escapes into the 
atmosphere, and the other remains as a disorganized 
earthy substance. 

That part which burns away during combustion 
we will call atmosplieric matter, because it was de- 
rived by the plant from the air ; the ashes which re- 
main we will call earthy matter, because they were 
derived from the soil. The atmospheric matter has 
become air, and it was originally obtained from air. 
The earthy matter has become earth, and was ob- 
tained from the soil. 

This is the first step toward a knowledge of agri- 
cultural chemistry. The next will be to examine 
each of these two different classes of matter, that we 
may learn precisely of what they consist. Then we 
must inquire where these substances are found, how 
they are taken up by the plant, and how we can best 
supply such as nature, unaided, does not always 
furnish. This knowledge does not require that farm- 
ers become chemists. All that is required is, that 
they should know enough of chemistry to understand, 
so far as the present state of knowledge makes it 
possible, the nature of the materials of which their 
crops are composed, and how those materials are to 
be used to the best advantage. t 



THE PLANT. 13 

The elements of this knowledge may be easily ac- 
quired, and should be possessed by every person, old 
or young, whether actually engaged in the cultivation 
of the soil or not. All are dependent on vegetable 
productions, not only for food, but for every comfort 
and convenience of life. It is the object of this book 
to teach young farmers the first principles of agri- 
culture : and while it does not contain all that is 
absolutely necessary to an understanding of the prac- 
tical operations of cultivation, its teachings are such 
as the writer found, in his early studies, to be most 
necessary as a groundwork for future study and 
thought and most useful in practice. 

We will first examine the atmospheric part of 
plants, or that which is driven away during combus- 
tion or burning. This matter, though apparently lost, 
is only changed in form. 

It consists of one solid substance, carbon (or 
charcoal), and three gases, oxygen, hydrogen and ni- 
trogen. These four kinds of matter constitute nearly 
the whole of most plants, the ashes forming some- 
times less than one part in one hundred of their dry 
weight. 

When wood is burned in a close vessel, or other- 
wise protected from the air, its carbon becomes char- 
coal. All plants contain this substance, it forming 
usually about one-half of their dry weight. The re- 
mainder of their atmospheric part consists of the 
three gases named above. By the word gas, we mean 
aeriform. Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, when 
pure, always exist in the form of air. Oxygen has 



14 THE PLANT. 

the power of uniting with many substances, forming 
compounds which are different from either of their 
constituents alone. Thus : oxygen unites with iron 
and forms oxide of iron or iron^mst, which does not 
resemble the grey metallic iron nor the gas oxygen ; 
oxygen unites with carbon and forms carbonic acid, 
which is an invisible gas, but not at all like pure oxy- 
gen ; oxygen combines with hydrogen and forms 
water. All water, ice, steam, etc., are composed of 
these two gases. We know this because we can arti- 
ficially decompose, or separate, all water, and obtain 
as a result simply oxygen and hydrogen, or we can 
combine these two gases and thus form pure water ; 
oxygen combines with nitrogen and forms nitric 
acid. These chemical changes and combinations 
take place only under certain circumstances, which, 
so far as they affect our subject, will be considered 
in the following pages. 

As the atmospheric elements of plants are ob- 
tained from matters existing in the atmosphere which 
surrounds our globe, we will examine its constitution. 



CHAPTEK II. 

THE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS CARBON. 

Atmospheric air is composed of oxygen and nitrogen. 
Their proportions are, one part of oxygen to four 
parts of nitrogen. Oxygen is the active agent in the 
combustion, decay, and decomposition of organized 



THE PLANT. 15 

bodies (those which have possessed animal or vegetable 
life, that is, organic matter), and others, — also, in 
the breathing of animals. Experiments have proved 
that if the atmosphere consisted of pure oxygen every 
thing would be speedily destroyed, as the processes of 
combustion and decay would be greatly quickened, 
and animals would be so stimulated that they would 
soon die. One use of the nitrogen in the air is to 
dilute the oxygen, and thus reduce the intensity of 
its effect. 

Besides these two great elements, the atmosphere 
contains certain impurities which are of great impor- 
tance to vegetable growth ; these are, carbonic acid, 
water, ammonia, etc. 



CARBONIC ACID. 

Carbonic acid is, in all probability, the only source 
of the carbon of plants, and consequently supplies 
more material to vegetation than any other single 
sort of food. It is a gas, and is not, under natural 
circumstances, perceptible to our senses. It consti- 
tutes about 2x00" °f the atmosphere, and is found in 
combination with many substances in nature. Marble, 
limestone and chalk, are carbonate of lime, or car- 
bonic acid and lime in combination ; and carbonate 
of magnesia is a compound of carbonic acid and mag- 
nesia. This gas exists in combination with many 
other mineral substances, and it is contained in all 
water not recently boiled. Its supply, though small, 
is sufficient for the purposes of vegetation. It enters 



16 THE PLANT. 

the plant in two ways — through the roots in the 
water which goes to form the sap, and at the leaves, 
which absorb it from the air in the form of gas. 
The leaf of the plant seems to have three offices : 
absorbing carbonic acid from the atmosphere — as- 
sisting in the chemical preparation of the sap — and 
evaporating its water. If we examine leaves with a 
microscope we shall find that some have as many as 
170,000 openings, or mouths, in a square inch ; others 
have a much less number. Probably the pores on 
the under side of the leaf generally absorb the car- 
bonic acid. This absorptive power is illustrated 
when we apply the lower side of a cabbage leaf to a 
wound, as it draws strongly — the other side of the 
leaf has not an equal effect. Young green shoots 
and sprouts doubtless have the power of absorbing 
and decomposing carbonic acid. 

The roots of plants, by their absorbent surfaces, or 
through the spongioles at the ends of their roots, ab- 
sorb from the soil water, which contains carbonic 
acid and other substances required for their nutrition. 
How large a proportion of the carbonic acid is ab- 
sorbed in this manner is not definitely known. It 
probably depends on various circumstances, but is, 
no doubt, always important. 

Carbonic acid, it will be recollected, consists of 
carbon and oxygen, while it supplies only carbon to 
the plant. It is therefore necessary that it be divided, 
or decomposed, and that the carbon be retained while 
the oxygen is sent off again into the atmosphere, to 
perform again, its office of uniting with carbon. This 



THE PLANT. 17 

decomposition takes place in the green parts of plants 
and only under the influence of daylight. It is not 
necessary that the sun shine directly on the leaf or 
green shoot, but this causes a more rapid decomposi- 
tion of carbonic acid, and consequently we find that 
plants which are well exposed to the sun's rays make 
the most rapid growth. 

The fact that light is essential to vegetation ex- 
plains the conditions of different latitudes, which, so 
far as the assimilation of carbon is concerned, are 
much the same. At the Equator the days are but 
about twelve hours long. Still, as the growth of 
plants is extended over nearly or quite the whole 
year, the duration of daylight is sufficient for the re- 
quirements of a luxuriant vegetation. At the Poles, 
on the contrary, the summer is but two or three 
months long ; here, however, it is daylight all sum- 
mer, and plants from continual growth develop them- 
selves in that short time. 

It will be recollected that carbonic acid constitutes 
but about 3 / of the air, yet, although about one- 
half of all the vegetable matter in the world is de- 
rived from this source, as well as all of the carbon 
required by the growth of plants, its proportion in 
the atmosphere is constantly about the same. In 
order that we may understand this, it becomes 
necessary for us to consider the means by which it is 
formed. In the act of burning, carbon unites with 
oxygen, and always when bodies containing carbon 
are burnt with the presence of atmospheric air, the 
oxygen of that air unites with the carbon, and forms 



18 THE PLANT. 

carbonic acid. The same occurs when bodies con- 
taining carbon decay, as this is simply a slower 
burning and produces the same results. In the 
breathing of animals the carbon of the blood com- 
bines with the oxygen of the air drawn into the 
lungs, and their breath, when thrown out, always 
contains carbonic acid. From this we see that the 
reproduction of this gas is the direct effect of the de- 
struction of all organized bodies, whether by fire, 
decay, or consumption by animals. 

Furnaces are its wholesale manufactories. Every 
cottage fire is continually producing a new supply, 
and the blue smoke issuing from the cottage-chim- 
ney, contains materials for making food for the cot- 
tager's tables and new faggots for his fire. The 
wick of every burning lamp draws up the carbon 
of the oil to be made into carbonic acid in the 
flame. All matters in process of combustion, decay, 
fermentation, or putrefaction, are returning to the 
atmosphere those constituents, which they obtained 
from it. Every living animal, even to the smallest 
insect, by respiration, spends its life in the produc- 
tion of this material, so necessary to the growth of 
plants, and at death gives up its body in part for 
such formation by decay. 

Thus we see that there is a continual change from 
the carbon of plants to air, and from air back to 
plants, or through them to animals. As each dollar 
in gold that is received into a country permanently 
increases its amount of circulating medium, and each 
dollar sent out permanently decreases it until re- 



THE FLANT. 19 

turned, so the carbonic acid sent into the atmosphere 
by burning, decay, or respiration, becomes a per- 
manent stock of constantly changeable material, 
until it shall be locked up for a time, as in a house 
which may last for centuries, or in an oak tree 
which may stand for thousands of years. Still, 
when these decay, the carbon which they contain 
must be again resolved into carbonic acid. 

The coal-beds of Pennsylvania are mines of car- 
bon once abstracted from the atmosphere by plants. 
In these coal-beds there are found various forms of 
organized matter. These existed as living things 
before the great floods, and it is the theory of some 
geologists that at the breaking away of the barriers 
of the immense lakes, of which our present lakes 
were merely the deep holes in their beds, they were 
washed away and deposited in masses so great as to 
take • fire from their chemical changes. It is by 
many supposed that this fire acting throughout the 
entire mass (without the presence of air to sujyjyly 
oxygen except on the surface) caused it to become 
melted carbon, and to flow around those bodies 
which still retain their shapes, changing them to 
coal without destroying their structures. This coal, 
so long as it retains its present form, is lost to the 
vegetable kingdom, and each ton that is burned, by 
being changed into carbonic acid, acids to the ability 
of the atmosphere to support vegetation. 

Thus we see that, in the provisions of nature, car- 
bon, the grand basis, on which all organized matter 
is founded, is never permanent in any of its forms. 



20 THE PLANT. 

Oxygen is the carrier which enables it to change its 
condition. For instance, let ns suppose that we 
have a certain quantity of charcoal ; this is nearly 
pure carbon. "We ignite it, and it unites with the 
oxygen of the air, becomes carbonic acid, and floats 
away into the atmosphere. The wind carries it 
through a forest, and the leaves of the trees with 
their millions of mouths drink it in. By the 
assistance of light it is decomposed, the oxygen is 
sent off to make more carbonic acid, and the carbon 
is retained to form a part of the tree. So long as 
that tree exists in the form of wood, the carbon will 
remain unaltered, but when the wood decays, or is 
burned, it immediately takes the form of carbonic 
acid, and mingles with the atmosphere ready to be 
again taken up by plants, and have its carbon de- 
posited in the form of vegetable matter. 

The blood of animals contains carbon derived 
from their food. This unites with the oxygen of the 
air drawn into the lim«;s and forms carbonic acid. 
Without this process, animals could not live. Thus, 
while by the natural operation of breathing, they 
make carbonic acid for the uses of the vegetable 
world, plants, in taking up carbon, throw off oxygen to 
keep up the life of animals. There is perhaps no way 
in which we can better illustrate the changes of form 
in carbon than by describing a simple experiment. 

Take a glass tube filled with oxygen gas, and 
put in it a lump of charcoal, cork the ends of the 
tube tightly, and pass through the corks the wires 
of an electrical battery. By passing a stream of 



THE PLANT. 21 

electrical fluid over the charcoal it may be ignited, 
when it will burn with great brilliancy. In burning 
it unites with the oxygen forming carbonic acid, and 
disappears. It is no more lost, however, than is the 
carbon of wood which is burned in a stove ; al- 
though invisible, it is still in the tube, and may be 
detected by careful weighing. A more satisfactory 
proof of its presence may be obtained by decompos- 
ing the carbonic acid by drawing the wires a short 
distance apart, and giving a sjxcrk of electricity. 
This immediately separates the oxygen from the car- 
bon, which forms a dense black smoke in the tube. 
By pushing the corks together we may obtain a 
wafer of charcoal of the same weight as the piece 
introduced. In this experiment we have changed 
carbon from its solid form to an invisible gas and 
back again to a solid, thus fully representing the 
continual changes of this substance in the destruc- 
tion of organic matter and the growth of plants. 



CHAPTEE III. 

HYDROGEN, OXYGEN AND NITROGEN. 
HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN. 

Let us now consider the three gases, hydrogen, oxygen, 
and nitrogen, which constitute the remainder of the 
atmospheric part of plants. 



22 THE PLANT. 

Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, and, if 
analyzed, yields simply these two gases. Plants per- 
form such analysis, and in this way are able to obtain 
a sufficient supply of these materials, as their sap is 
composed chiefly of water. Whenever vegetable 
matter is destroyed by burning, decay, or otherwise, 
its hydrogen and oxygen unite and form water, which 
usually escapes in the form of an invisible vapor. 
The atmosphere of course contains greater or less 
quantities of watery vapor arising from this cause 
and from the evaporation of liquid water. This 
vapor condenses, forming rains, etc. 

Hydrogen and oxygen are never taken into con- 
sideration in manuring lands, as they arS so readily 
obtained from the water constituting the sap of the 
plant, and consequently they need not occupy our 
attention in this book. 

NITROGEN. 

Nitrogen, the only remaining atmospheric constitu- 
ent of vegetable matter, is for many reasons worthy 
of close attention. 

1. It is necessary to the growth and perfection of 
all cultivated plants. 

2. It is necessary to the formation of all animal 
substances. 

3. It is often deficient in the soil. 

4. It is liable to be easily lost from manures. 
Athough about four-fifths of atmospheric air are 

pure nitrogen, it is almost certain that plants get no 



THE PLANT. 23 

nutriment directly from this source. It is all obtained 
from some of its compounds, chiefly from the one 
called ammonia. Nitric acid is also a source from 
which plants may obtain nitrogen, though, to the 
farmer, it is of less importance than ammonia. 

AMMONIA. 

■Ammonia is composed of nitrogen and hydrogen. 
It has a pungent smell and is familiarly known as 
hartshorn. The same odor is often perceptible 
around stables and other places where animal matter 
is decomposing. All animal muscle, certain parts of 
plants and other organized substances, consist of 
compounds containing nitrogen. When these com- 
pounds undergo combustion, or are in any manner 
decomposed, the nitrogen which they contain unites 
with hydrogen, and forms ammonia. In conse- 
quence of this the atmosphere always contains more 
or less of this gas, arising from the decay and com- 
bustion which are continually going on all over the 
world. 

This ammonia in the atmosphere and that which is 
contained in the soil (derived from the decomposition 
of organic matters within it) is the capital stock to 
which all plants, not artificially manured, must look 
for their supply of nitrogen. As they take up am- 
monia chiefly if not entirely through their roots, we 
must discover some means by which it may be con- 
veyed from the atmosphere to the soil. 

Water may be made to absorb many times its 



24 THE PLANT. 

bulk of this gas, and water with which it comes in 
contact will immediately take it up. Spirits of 
hartshorn is merely water through which ammonia 
has been passed until it is saturated.* This power 
of water has a direct application to agriculture, 
because the water constituting rains, dews, etc., 
absorbs the ammonia which the decomposition of 
nitrogenous matter had sent into the atmosphere, 
and we find that all rain, snow, and dew, contain 
ammonia. This fact may be chemically proved in 
various ways, and is perceptible in the common 
operations of nature. Every person must have 
noticed that when a summer's shower falls on the 
plants in a flower garden, they commence their 
growtli with fresh vigor, while the blossoms become 
larger and more richly colored. This effect cannot 
be produced by watering with spring water, unless 
it be previously mixed with ammonia, in which case 
the result will be the same. 

Although ammonia is a gas and pervades the 
atmosphere, few, if any, plants can take it up, as 
they do carbonic acid, through their leaves. It 
must all enter through the roots in solution in the 
water which goes to form the sap. Although the 
amount received from the atmosphere is of great 
importance, there are few cases where artificial ap- 
plications are not beneficial. The value of farm-yard 
and other animal manures, depends largely on the 
ammonia which they yield on decomposition. This 

* By saturated, we mean that it contains all that it is capable 
of holding. 



THE PLAXT. 25 

subject, also the means for retaining in the soil the 
ammoniacal parts of fertilizing matters, will be fully 
considered in the section on manures. 

After ammonia has entered the plant it may be 
decomposed, its hydrogen separated from it, and its 
nitrogen retained to answer the purposes of growth. 
The changes which nitrogen undergoes, from plants 
to animals, or, by decomposition, to the form of am- 
monia in the atmosphere, are as varied as those of 
carbon and the constituents of water. The same 
little atom of nitrogen may one year form a part of a 
plant, and the next become a constituent of an animal, 
or, with the decomposed dead animal, may form a 
part of the soil. If the animal should fall into the 
sea it may become food for fishes, and our atom of 
nitrogen may form a part of a fish. That fish may 
be eaten by a larger one, or at death may become 
food for the whale, through the marine insect on 
which it feeds. After the abstraction of the oil from 
the whale, the nitrogen may, by the putrefaction of 
his remains, be united to hydrogen, form ammonia, 
and escape into the atmosphere. From here it may 
be brought to the soil by rains, and enter into the 
composition of a plant, from which, could its parts 
speak as it grows in our garden, it could tell us a 
wonderful tale of travels, and assure us that, after 
wandering about in all sorts of places, it had returned 
to us, the same little atom of nitrogen which we had 
owned twenty years before, and which for thousands 
of years had been continually going through its 

changes. 

2 



26 THE PLANT. 

Liebig says : " All the nitrogen of plants and of 
animals is derived from the air. Every fireplace 
where coals are burned, the numerous furnaces and 
chimneys of the manufacturing towns and districts, 
of locomotive engines and steamboats, all the smelt- 
ing furnaces of the iron-works — all these are so many 
forms of distillatory apparatus which enrich the at- 
mosphere with the nitrogenized food of a vegetable 
world, belonging to a period long past. 

" We can form some idea of the quantities of am- 
monia thus poured into the atmosphere, if we con- 
sider that in numerous gas-works many tons of am- 
moniacal salts are annually obtained from the coals 
distilled for gas." * 

The same is true of any of the atmospheric or 
earthy constituents of plants. They are performing 
their natural offices, or are lying in the earth, or 
floating in the atmosphere, ready to be lent to any 
of their legitimate uses, sure again to be returned to 
their starting point. 

Thus no atom of matter is ever lost. It may 
change its place, but it remains for ever as a part of 
the capital of nature. 

* Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. xvii., p. 289. 



THE PLANT. 27 

CHAPTER IY. 

EARTHY MATTER. 

We will now examine the ashes left after burning 
vegetable substances. This is earthy matter; and it 
is obtained from the soil. Atmospheric matter, al- 
though forming so large a part of the plant, we 
have seen to consist of four different substances. 
The earthy portion, on the contrary, although 
forming so small a part, consists of no less than nine 
or ten different kinds of matter. These we will 
consider in order. In their relations to agriculture 
they may be divided into three classes — alkalies, 
acids, and neutrals r 

Alkalies and acids are of opposite properties, and 
when brought together they unite and neutralize 
each other, forming compounds which are neither 
alkaline nor acid in their character. Thus, carbonic 
acid (a gas) unites with lime — a burning, caustic 
substance — and forms marble, which is a hard, taste- 
less stone. Alkalies and acids are characterized by 
their tendency to unite with each other, and the com- 
pounds thus formed have many and various proper- 
ties, so that the characters of the constituents give 
no indication of the character of the compound. 
For instance, lime causes the gases of animal manure 

* This classification is not strictly scientific, but it is one which 
the learner will find it well to adopt. These bodies are called 
neutrals because they have a less decided alkaline or acid charac- 
ter than the other. 



28 THE PLANT. 

to escape, while sulphate of lime (a compound of 
sulphuric acid and lime) produces an opposite effect, 
and prevents their escape. 

The substances coming under the signification of 
neutrals, are less affected by the laws of combina- 
tion, still they do combine with other substances, and 
some of the resultant compounds are of great impor- 
tance to agriculture. 

ALKALIES. 

The alkalies which are found in the ashes of 
plants are four in number ; they are potash, soda, 
lime, and magnesia. 

POTASH. 

When we pour water over wood ashes it dissolves 
the potash which they contain, and carries it away 
in solution. This solution is called ley, and if it 
be boiled to dryness it leaves a solid substance 
which is chiefly pure potash. Potash left exposed 
to the air absorbs carbonic acid and becomes car- 
bonate of potash or pearlash / if another atom of car- 
bonic acid be added, it becomes super-carbonate of 
potash, or salwratus. Potash has many uses in agri- 
culture. 

1. It forms a constituent of nearly all plants. 

2. It unites with silicic acid and forms a compound 
which water can dissolve and carry into the roots of 
plants ; thus supplying them with an ingredient 
which gives them much of their strength. 



THE PLANT. 29 

3. It is a strong agent in the decomposition of vege- 
table matter, and is thns of much importance in pre- 
paring manures. 

4. It roughens the smooth round particles of sandy 
soils, and prevents their compacting, as they are 
often liable to do. 

5. It is also of use in killing certain kinds of insects, 
and, when externally applied, in smoothing the bark 
of fruit trees. 

The source from which this and the other earthy 
matters required are to be obtained, will be more 
fully considered in the section on mauures. 

SODA. 

Soda, one of the alkalies contained in the ashes 
of plants, is very much the same as potash in its agri- 
cultural character and uses. Soda exists very largely 
in nature, as it forms an important part of common 
salt, whether in the ocean or in those inland deposits 
known as rock salt. When combined with sulphuric 
acid it forms sulphate of soda or Glauber's salts. 
In combination with carbonic acid, as carbonate of 
soda, it forms the common washing soda of the shops. 

LIME. 

Lime is in many ways important in agriculture : 

1. It is a constituent of plants and animals. 

2. It assists in the decomposition of vegetable 
matter in the soil as well as of its minerals. 

3. It corrects the acidity* of sour soils. 

* Sourness. 



30 THE PLANT. 

4. Combined with chlorine or sulphuric acid as 
chloride or sulphate of lime it is a good fixer of 
fertilizing gases. 

In nature it exists most largely in the form of car- 
bonate of lime ; that is, as marble, limestone, and 
chalk — these all being of the same composition. In 
manufacturing caustic (or quick) lime, the carbonate 
of lime is burned in a kiln ; by this means the car- 
bonic acid is driven off into the atmosphere and the 
lime remains in a pure or caustic state. 

MAGNESIA. 

Magnesia is the remaining alkali of vegetable 
ashes. It is well known as a medicine, both in the 
form of calcined magnesia, and, when mixed with 
sulphuric acid, as epsom salts. 

Although magnesia is a necessary constituent of 
plants, it is not an element of which fertile soils are 
likely to become exhausted, and it does not receive 
attention in special manuring ; the amount returned 
to the soil in farm-yard manure, and that supplied 
by the decay of roots, being sufficient for the growth 
of the most luxuriant crops. 

acid s. 

PHOSPHORIC ACID. 

Phosphoric acid is a constituent of the ashes of 
plants which is of the greatest value to the farmer ; 
it is composed of phosphorus and oxygen. Being an 



THE PLANT. 31 

acid, this substance has the power of combining with 
any of the alkalies. Its most important compound 
is formed with lime. 

Phosphate of lime forms about 65 per cent, of the 
dry weight of the bones of all animals, and it is all 
derived from the soil through the medium of plants. 
As plants are intended as food for animals, nature 
has provided that they shall not attain their perfec- 
tion without taking up a supply of phosphate of 
lime as well as of their other earthy ingredients ; 
consequently, there are many soils which will not 
produce good crops, simply because they are deficient 
in phosphate of lime. It is one of the most impor- 
tant ingredients of manures, and its value is depen- 
dent on certain conditions which will be hereafter 
explained. 

Another use of phosphoric acid in the plant is to 
supply it with the small amount of phosphorus, 
which seems to be required in the formation of the 
seed. 

SULPHURIC ACLD. 

Sulphuric acid is important to vegetation, and its 
addition to the soil often renders it more fertile. It 
is composed of sulphur and oxygen, and is made for 
manufacturing purposes, by burning sulphur. With 
lime it forms sulphate of lime, which is gypsum or 
"plaster." In this form it is often found in na- 
ture, and is most extensively used in agriculture. 
The methods for supplying sulphuric acid will be 
described hereafter. It gives to the plant a small 



32 THE PLANT. 

portion of sulphur, which is necessary to the forma- 
tion of some of its parts. 

SILICIC ACID, OK SILICA. 

This is common sand. In its pure state it cannot 
be dissolved and plants can make no use of it. It 
unites with the alkalies and forms compounds, such 
as silicate of potash, silicate of soda, etc., which are 
soluble in water, and therefore available to plants. 
If we roughen a corn stalk with sand-paper we may 
sharpen a knife upon it. This is owing to the hard 
particles of silica which its outer parts contain. 
Window glass is silicate of potash, rendered insoluble 
by additions of arsenic and litharge. 

Liebig tells us that there was discovered, between 
Manheim and Heidelberg in Germany, a mass of 
melted glass where a hay-stack had been struck by 
lightning. They supposed it to be a meteor, but 
chemical analysis showed that it was only the com- 
pound of silicic acid and potash which served to 
strengthen the grass. 

There is always enough silicic acid in the soil, but 
it is often necessary to add an alkali to render it 
soluble and available. When grain, etc., lodge or 
fall down from their own weight, it is probable that 
they are unable to obtain from the soil a sufficient 
supply of the soluble silicates to support their rapid 
growth. 



THE PLANT. 33 



NEUTRALS . 
CHLORINE. 

Chlorine is an important ingredient of vegetable 
ashes. It is not found alone in nature, but is always 
in combination with other substances. Its most im- 
portant compound is with sodium, forming chloride 
of sodium (or common salt). Sodium is the base 
of soda, and common salt is usually the cheapest 
source from which to obtain both soda and chlorine. 
Chlorine unites with lime in the formation of chloride 
of lime, which is much used to absorb or destroy the 
unpleasant odors of decaying matters, and in this 
character it is of use in the treatment of manures. 

OXID EOF IRON. 

Oxide of iron, one of the constituents of ashes, is 
common iron rust. Iron itself is naturally of a 
greyish color, but when exposed to the atmosphere, 
it readily absorbs oxygen and forms a reddish com- 
pound. It is in this form that it usually exists in 
the soil, and many soils as well as the red sandstones 
are colored by it. It is seldom, if ever, necessary to 
apply this as a manure, there being usually enough 
of it in the soil. 

This red oxide of iron, of which we have been 
speaking, is called by chemists the peroxide. There 
is another compound which contains less oxygen than 

this, and is called the protoxide of iron, which is 

2* 



3± 



THE PLANT. 



poisonous to plants. When it exists in the soil it is 
necessary to use such means of cultivation as shall 
expose it to the atmosphere and allow it to take up 
more oxygen and become the peroxide. The black 
scales which fly from hot iron when struck by the 
blacksmith's hammer are protoxide of iron. 

The peroxide of iron is a very good absorbent of 
ammonia, and consequently, as will be hereafter 
described, adds to the fertility of the soil. 

Oxide of Manganese, though often found in small 
quantities in the ashes of cultivated plants, cannot 
be considered indispensable. 

Having now examined the materials from which 
the ashes of plants are formed, we are enabled to 
classify them in a simple manner, so that they may 
be recollected. They are as follows : — 



ALKALIES. 

Potash. 
Soda. 
Lime. 
Magnesia. 



ACIDS. 

Sulphuric acid. 
Phosphoric " 
Silicic " 



NEUTRALS. 

Chlorine. 
Oxide of Iron. 
" Manganese. 



CHAPTER Y. 



GROWTH. 

Having examined the materials of which plants are 
made, it becomes necessary to discover how they are 



THE PLANT. 35 

put together in the process of growth. Let us there- 
fore suppose a young wheat-plant, for instance, to be 
in condition to commence independent growth. 

It consists of roots which are located in the soil ; 
leaves which are spread in the air, and a stem which 
connects the roots and leaves. This stem contains 
sap vessels, which may be regarded, for the sake of 
simplicity, as tubes extending from the ends of the 
roots to the surfaces of the leaves, thus affording a 
passage for the sap, and consequently allowing the 
matters taken up to be distributed throughout the 
plant. 

It is necessary that the materials of which plants 
are made should be supplied in certain proportions, 
at the proper time, and in a suitable condition. For 
instance, carbon could not be taken up in large 
quantities by the leaves, unless the roots, at the same 
time, were receiving from the soil those mineral mat- 
ters which are necessary to growth. On the other 
hand, no considerable amount of earthy matter could 
be appropriated by the roots unless the leaves were 
obtaining carbon from the air. This same rule holds 
true with regard to all of the constituents required ; 
Nature seeming to have made it a law that if one 
of the important ingredients of the plant is absent, 
the others, though they may be present in sufficient 
quantities, cannot be used. Thus, if the soil is de- 
ficient in alkalies, and still has sufficient quantities 
of all of the other ingredients, the plant cannot take 
up these ingredients, because alkalies are necessary 
to its life. 



30 THE TLANT. 

If a farmer wishes to make a cart lie prepares his 
wood and iron, gets them all in the proper condition, 
and then can very readily put them together. But 
if he has all of the wood necessary and ^10 iron, he 
cannot make his cart, because bolts, nails and screws 
are required, and their place cannot be supplied by 
boards. This serves to illustrate the fact that in 
raising plants we must give them everything that 
they require, or they will not grow at all. 

In the case of our young plant the following opera- 
tions are going on at about the same time. 

The leaves are absorbing carbonic acid from the 
atmosphere, and the roots are drinking in water from 
the soil. 

The manner in which food is taken up by roots, 
may be illustrated by the following experiment : 
Take a tumbler, filled entirely full with water ; tie 
over it a bladder, and on the bladder sprinkle a little 
salt. The bladder becomes moist throughout its 
entire thickness, and transmits enough moisture to 
the salt to dissolve it gradually, and as fast as it is 
dissolved, it passes through the bladder into the 
water inside of the tumbler. In a long enough time 
the water can be made, in this way, to dissolve as 
much salt as though it had been stirred into it with- 
out the intervention of the bladder. If we keep the 
salt soaking wet, as it lies on the outside of the blad- 
der, it will pass through much more rapidly, but if 
we do not wet it by a direct application of water, 
enough water will reach it through the membrane to 
allow it to pass into the tumbler, as above described. 






THE PLANT. 37 

The roots of plants contain sap, which is separated 
from the plant-food in the soil, by a thin film of 
matter, which constitutes its cell-walls. So long as 
the water of the sap has the capacity to dissolve 
more mineral matter than it already contains, it will 
take it through the cell-walls, as the salt is taken 
through the bladder. If the plant-food outside of 
the roots is in a moist condition, it will be taken up 
more rapidly than if too dry. The moisture of the 
soil itself, containing mineral matter in solution, 
passes through the cell- walls to supply the place of 
that which has been evaporated at the leaves, the 
matters in solution passing through with the water 
itself. 

In short, there is a constant tendency to supply 
the deficiency of water in the root, and to keep it 
constantly charged with as much as it can dissolve 
of the plant-food, from which it is separated only by 
its membranous cell-walls. 

Under the influence of daylight, the carbonic acid 
is decomposed ; its oxygen returned to the atmos- 
phere, and its carbon retained in the plant. 

The water taken in by the roots circulates through 
the sap vessels of the plant, and is drawn up towards 
the leaves, where it is evaporated. This water con- 
tains the nitrogen and earthy food required by the 
plant and some carbonic acid, while the water itself 
consists of hydrogen and oxygen. 

Thus we see that the plant obtains its food in the 
following manner : — 



38 



THE PLANT. 



Carbon. — In the form of carbonic acid from the 
atmosphere, and from that contained 
in the sap, the oxygen being returned 
to the air. 

X T^ EN I From the elements of the water con- 
Hydrogen. ) Btituting the sap. 

Nitrogen. — From the soil (chiefly in form of am- 
monia). It is carried into the plant 
through the roots in solution in water. 
Earthy | From the soil, and only in solution in 
Matter. j water. 

Many of the chemical changes which take place 
in the interior of the plant are well, and some but 
imperfectly understood, but they require too much 
knowledge of chemistry to be easily comprehended 
b} r the young learner, and it is not absolutely essen- 
tial that they should be understood by the scholar 
who is merely learning the elements of the science. 

It is sufficient to say that the food taken up by 
the plant undergoes such changes as are required for 
its growth ; as in animals, where the food taken into 
the stomach is digested, and is afterward formed 
into bone, muscle, fat, hair, etc., so in the plant the 
nutritive portions of the sap are resolved into wood, 
bark, grain, or other necessary parts. 

The results of these changes are of the greatest 
importance in agriculture, and no person ought to 
be called a thoroughly practical farmer who does 
not understand them. 



THE PLANT. 39 



CHAPTER VI. 

STARCH, WOODY-FIBRE, GLUTEN, ETC. 

"We have hitherto examined the raw material of 
plants. That is, we have looked at each one of the 
elements separately, and considered its use in vege- 
table growth. 

We will now consider another division of plants. 
We know that they consist of various substances, such 
as wood, gum, starch, oil, etc., and on examination 
we shall discover that these substances are composed 
of the various atmospheric and earthy ingredients de- 
scribed in the preceding chapters. They are made 
up almost entirely of atmospheric matter, but their 
ashy parts, though very small, are (as we shall pres- 
ently see) of great importance. 

These compounds may be divided into two classes. 

The first class are composed of carbon, hydrogen, 
and oxygen. 

The second class contain the same substances and 
nitrogen. 

The first class (those compounds not containing ni- 
trogen) comprise the wood, starch, gum, sugar, and 
fatty matter, which constitute the greater part of all 
plants, also the acids which are found in sour fruits, 
etc. Various as are all of these things in their char- 
acters, they are entirely composed of the same ingre- 
dients (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen), and usually 
combined in about the same proportion. There may 



40 THE PLANT. 

be a slight difference in the composition of their ashes, 
but the organic part derived from the atmosphere is 
much the same in every case, so much so, that they can 
often be artificially changed from one to the other. 

As an instance of this, it may be stated that at the 
Fair of the American Institute, in 1834, Prof. Mapes 
exhibited samples of excellent sugar made from the 
juice of the corn-stalk, from starch, from linen, and 
from woody fibre. 

In the plant, during its growth, they are constantly 
changing. At one time they assume a form in which 
they cannot be dissolved by water, and remain fixed 
in their places. 

At another, the chemical influences on which growth 
depends, change them to a soluble form, and they are 
carried, by the circulation of the sap, to other parts 
of the organism, where they may be again deposited 
in other insoluble forms. For example, the turnip 
devotes the first season of its growth to storing up 
in its root a large amount of starch and pectic acid ; 
in the second season, these substances become soluble, 
are taken up by the circulation and again deposited 
in the form of woody fibre, starch, etc., in the stems, 
leaves, seed-vessels, etc., above the ground. If a 
turnip root be planted in the spring, in moist cotton, 
from which it can get no food, it will simply, by the 
transformation of its own substance, form stems, 
leaves, flowers and seed. 

Those products of vegetation which contain nitro- 
gen, are of the greatest importance to the farmer, 
being the ones from which animal muscle is made. 



THE PLANT. 41 

They consist, as will be recollected, of carbon, hy- 
drogen, oxygen and nitrogen, or of all of the atmos- 
pheric elements of plants. They are all of much the 
same character, though each kind of plant has its 
peculiar form of this substance, which is known under 
the general name of protein. 

The protein of wheat is called gluten — that of In- 
dian corn is zein — that of beans and peas is legumin. 
In other plants the protein substances are vegetable 
albumen, casein, etc. 

Gluten absorbs large quantities of water, which 
causes it to swell to a great size, and become full of 
holes. Flour which contains much gluten, makes 
light, porous bread, and is preferred by bakers, be- 
cause it absorbs so large an amount of water. 

The nitrogenous substances are necessary to animal 
and vegetable life, and none of our cultivated plants 
will attain maturity, (complete their growth,) unless 
allowed the materials required for forming them. To 
furnish this condition is the chief object of nitrogen 
given to plants as manure. If no nitrogen could be 
obtained these substances could not be formed, and 
the plant must cease to grow. 

When, on the contrary, ammonia is given to the 
soil, (by rains or otherwise,) it furnishes nitrogen, 
while the carbonic acid and water yield the other 
constituents of protein, and a healthy growth con- 
tinues, provided that the soil contains the earthy 
matters required in the formation of the ash, in a 
condition to be taken up by the roots. 

The wisdom of this provision is evident when we 



42 THE PLANT. 

recollect that the nitrogenous substances are neces- 
sary to the formation of muscle in animals, for if 
plants were allowed to complete their growth with- 
out a supply of nitrogen, our grain and hay might 
not be sufficiently well supplied with it to keep our 
oxen and horses in working condition, while under 
the existing law, plants must be of nearly a uniform 
quality, (in this respect,) and if a field is short of 
nitrogen, its crop will not be large, and of a very 
poor quality, but the soil will produce good plants 
as long as the nitrogen lasts, and then the growth 
must cease.* 

ANIMALS. 

That this principle may be clearly understood, it 
may be well to explain more fully the application of 
the different constituents of plants in feeding animals. 

Animals are composed (like plants) of atmospheric 
and earthy matter, and every thing necessary to build 
them up exists in plants. It is one of the offices of 
the vegetable world to prepare the gases in the 
atmosphere and the minerals in the earth for the 
uses of animal life, and, to effect this, plants put 
these gases and minerals together in the form of the 
various compound substances which we have just 
described. 

In animals the compounds containing no nitrogen 
comprise the fatty substances, parts of the blood, 
etc., while the protein compounds, or those which 

* It is of course assumed that the soil is fertile in other re- 
spects. 



THE PLA^T. 43 

do contain nitrogen, form the muscle, a part of the 
bones, the hair, and other portions of the body. 

Animals contain a larger proportion of earthy 
matter than plants do. Bones contain a large quan- 
tity of phosphate of lime, and we find other earthy 
compounds performing important offices in the sys- 
tem. 

In order that animals may be perfectly developed, 
they must, of course, receive as food all of the mate- 
rials required to form their bodies. They cannot 
live if fed entirely on one ingredient. Thus, if 
starch alone be eaten by the animal, he might be- 
come fat, but his strength would soon fail, because 
his food contains nothing to keep up the vigor of his 
muscles. If on the contrary the food of an animal 
consisted entirely of gluten, he might be very strong 
from a superior development of muscle, but would 
not become fat. Hence we see, that in order to 
keep up the proper proportion of both fat and mus- 
cle in our animals, (or in ourselves,) the food must 
be such as contains a proper proportion of both 
classes of vegetable products. 

It is for this reason that grain, wheat for instance, 
is so good for food. It contains both classes of 
proximates, and furnishes material for the formation 
of both fat and muscle. The value of flour depends 
very much on the manner in which it is manufac- 
tured. This will be explained hereafter. 

Apart from the relations between the organic 
parts of plants, and those of animals, there exists an 
important relation between their ashes or their earthy 



44: THE PLANT. 

parts ; and food, in order to satisfy the demands of 
animal life, must contain the mineral matter re- 
quired for the purposes of that life. Take bones for 
instance. If phosphate of lime is not always sup- 
plied in sufficient quantities in the food, animals are 
prevented from forming healthy bones. This is par- 
ticularly to be noticed in teeth. Where food is 
deficient of phosphate of lime, we see poor teeth as 
a result. Some physicians have supposed that one 
of the causes of consumption is the deficiency of 
phosphate of lime in food. 

The first class of vegetable constituents (starch, 
sugar, gum, etc.) perform an important office in the 
animal economy aside from their use in making fat. 
They constitute the fuel which supplies the animal's 
fire, and gives him his heat. The lungs are the 
delicate stoves, which supply the whole body with 
heat. But let us explain this matter more fully. If 
wood, starch, gum, or sugar, be burned in a stove, 
they produce heat. These substances consist, as 
will be recollected, of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, 
and when they are destroyed in any way, (provided 
they be exposed to the atmosphere,) the hydrogen 
and oxygen unite and form water, and the carbon 
unites with the oxygen of the air and forms carbonic 
acid, as was explained in a preceding chapter. This 
process is always accompanied by the production of 
heat, and the intensity of this heat depends on the 
time occupied in its production. In slow decay, the 
chemical changes take place so slowly that the heat, 
being conducted away as soon as formed, is not per- 



THE PLANT. 45 

ceptible to our senses. In combustion (or burning) 
the same changes take place with much greater 
rapidity, and the same amount of heat, being con- 
centrated, or brought out in a far shorter time, it 
becomes intense, and therefore apparent. In the 
lungs and blood-vessels of animals the same law 
holds true. The blood contains matters belonging 
to this carbonaceous class, and they undergo, during 
its circulation, the changes which have been de- 
scribed under the head of combustion and decay. 
Their hydrogen and oxygen unite, and form the 
moisture of the breath, while their carbon is com- 
bined with the oxygen of the air drawn into the 
lungs, and is thrown out as carbonic acid. The 
same consequence — heat — results in this, as in the 
other cases, and this heat is produced with sufficient 
rapidity for the necessities of the animal. When he 
exercises violently, his blood circulates with in- 
creased rapidity, thus carrying carbon more rapidly 
to the lungs. The breath also becomes quicker, 
thus supplying increased quantities of oxygen. In 
this way the decomposition becomes more rapid, 
and the animal is heated in proportion. 

Thus we see that food has another function be- 
sides that of forming animal matter, namely to sup- 
ply heat. When the food does not contain a suffi- 
cient quantity of starch, sugar, etc., to answer the 
demands of the system, the animaVs own fat is car- 
ried to the lungs, and there used in the production 
of heat. This important fact will be referred to 



agam. 



46 



THE PLANT. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

LOCATION OF THE DIFFERENT PARTS, AND VARIATIONS 
IN THE ASHES OF PLANTS. 

Let us now examine plants with a view to learn- 
ing the location of the various parts. 

The stem or trunk of the plant or tree consists 
very largely of woody fibre j this also forms a large 
portion of the other parts except the seeds, and, in 
some instances, the roots. The roots of the potato 
contain large quantities of starch. Other roots, such 
as the carrot and turnip, contain pectic acid* a 
nutritious substance resembling starch. 

It is in the seed, however, that the more nutritive 
portions of most plants exist, and here they maintain 
certain relative positions which it is well to under- 
stand, and which can be best explained by reference 
to the following figures, as described by Prof. John- 
ston : — 




.."-ffFV"^, 



-._i— 



■~ «.. 




- i 



— c— 




FIG. 1. 



" Thus a shows the position of the oil in the outer 

* This pectic acid gelatinizes food in the stomach, and thus 
renders it more digestible. 



THE PLANT. 47 

part of the seed — it exists in minute drops, inclosed 
in six-sided cells, which consist chiefly of gluten ; Z>, 
the position and comparative quantity of the starch, 
which in the heart of the seed is mixed with only a 
small proportion of gluten ; c, the germ or chit, which 
contains much gluten."* 

The location of the earthy parts of plants is of 
much interest, and shows the adaptation of each 
part to its particular use. Take a wheat plant, for 
instance — the stalk, the leaf, and the grain, show in 
their ashes, important difference of composition. 
The stalk or straw contains three or four times as 
large a proportion of ash as the grain, and a no less 
remarkable difference of composition may be noticed 
in the ashes of the two parts. In that of the straw, 
we find a large proportion of silicic acid and scarcely 
any phosphoric acid, while in that of the grain there 
is scarcely a trace of silicic acid, although phosphoric 
acid constitutes about one half of the entire weight. 
The leaves contain a considerable quantity of lime. 

This may at first seem an unimportant matter, 
but on examination we shall see the use of it. The 
straw is intended to support the grain and leaves, 
and to convey the sap from the roots to the upper 
portions of the plant. To perform these offices, 
strength is required, and this is given by the silicic 
acid, and the woody fibre which forms so large a 
proportion of the stalk. The silicic acid is combined 
with an alkali, and constitutes the glassy coating of 
the straw. While the plant is young, this coating is 
* See Johnston's Elements, page 41. 



48 THE PLANT. 

hardly apparent, but as it grows older, as the grain 
.becomes heavier, (verging towards ripeness,) the 
silicious coating of the stalk assumes a more prom- 
inent character, and gives to the straw sufficient 
strength to support the golden head. The straw is 
not the most important part of the plant as food, and 
it contains but little phosphoric acid, which is so 
necessary to animals. 

The grain, on the contrary, is especially intended 
as food, and therefore must contain a large propor- 
tion of phosphoric acid — this being, as we have al- 
ready learned, necessary to the formation of bone — 
while, as it has little necessity for strength, and as 
silicic acid is not needed by animals, this ingredient 
exists in the grain only in a very small proportion. 
It may be well to observe that the phosphoric acid 
of grain exists most largely in the hard portions near 
the shell, or bran. This is one of the reasons why 
Graham (or unbolted) flour is more wholesome than 
fine flour. It contains all of the nutritive materials 
which render the grain valuable as food, while flour 
which is very finely bolted* contains only a small 
part of the outer portions of the grain (where the 
phosphoric acid, protein and fatty matters exist most 
largely). The starchy matter in the interior of the 
grain, which is the least capable of giving strength 
to the animal, is carefully separated, and used as food 
for man, while the better portions, not being ground 
so finely, are rejected. This one thing alone may be 
sufficient to account for the fact, that the lives of 
* Sifted through a fine cloth called a bolting cloth. 



THE PLANT. 4:0 

men have become shorter and less blessed with 
health and strength, than they were in the good old 
days when a stone mortar and a coarse sieve made 
a respectable flour mill. 

Another important fact concerning the ashes of 
plants is the difference of their composition in different 
plants. Thus, the most prominent ingredient in the 
ash of the potato is potash ; of wheat and other grains, 
phosphoric acid ; of meadow hay, silicic acid', of clo- 
ver, lime / of beans, potash, etc. In grain, potash 
(or soda), etc., are among the important ingredients. 

These differences are of great importance to the 
practical farmer, as by understanding what kind of 
plants uses the most of one ingredient, and what kind 
requires another in large proportion, he can regulate 
his crops so as to prevent his soil from being exhaust- 
ed more in one ingredient than in the others, and 
can also manure his land with reference to the crop 
which he intends to grow. The tables of analyses 
in the fifth section will point out these differences 
approximately. The composition of ashes varies a 
little, but not enough to affect the value of the 
tables for the uses of the farmer. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



RECAPITULATION. 



We have now learned as much about the plant as is 
required for our immediate uses, and we will care- 

3 



50 THE PLAOT. 

fully reconsider the various points with a view to fix- 
ing them permanently in the mind. 

Plants are composed of atmospheric and earthy 
matter. 

Atmospheric matter is that which burns away in 
the fire. Earthy matter is the ash left after burning. 

The organic matter of plants consists of three 
gases, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, and one solid 
substance, carbon (or charcoal). The mineral parts 
consist of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, sulphuric 
acid, phosphoric acid, silicic acid, chlorine, oxide of 
iron, and oxide of manganese. 

Plants obtain their atmospheric food as follows : — 
Oxygen and hydrogen from water ; nitrogen from 
some compound containing nitrogen (chiefly from 
ammonia) ; and carbon from the atmosphere, where 
it exists as carbonic acid — a gas. 

They obtain their earthy food from the soil. 

The water which supplies oxygen and hydrogen 
to plants is readily obtained without the assistance 
of manures. 

Ammonia is obtained from the atmosphere, by be- 
ing absorbed by rain and carried into the soil, and it 
enters plants through their roots. It may be artifi- 
cially supplied in the form of animal manure with 
advantage. 

Carbonic acid is absorbed from the atmosphere by 
leaves, and decomposed in the green parts of plants 
under the influence of daylight; the carbon is re- 
tained, and the oxygen is returned to the atmos- 
phere. 



THE PLANT. 51 

When plants are destroyed by decay, or burning, 
their organic constituents pass away as water, am- 
monia, carbonic acid, etc., ready again to be taken 
up by other plants. 

The earthy matters in the soil can enter the plant 
only with the aid of water. Potash, soda, lime, 
and magnesia, are soluble in their pure forms. 
Magnesia is injurious when present in too large 
quantities. 

Sulphuric acid is often used as a manure, and is 
usually most available in the form of sulphate 
of lime or plaster. It is also valuable in its pure 
form to prevent the escape of ammonia from com- 
posts. 

Phosphoric acid is highly important, from its fre- 
quent deficiency in worn-out soils. It is most readily 
taken up by plants under certain conditions which 
will be described in the section on manures. 

Silicic acid is common sand, and must be united 
to an alkali before it can be used by the plant, be- 
cause it is insoluble except when so united. 

Chlorine is a constituent of common salt (chloride 
of sodium), and from this source may be obtained in 
sufficient quantities for manurial purposes. 

Oxide of iron is iron rust. There are two oxides 
of iron, the peroxide (red) and the protoxide (black). 
The former is advantageous in the soil, and the latter 
poisons plants. 

Oxide of manganese is often absent from the ashes 
of our cultivated plants. 

The food of plants, both organic and earthy, must 



52 



THE PLANT. 



be present at the time when it is required and in 
sufficient quantity. In the plant, this food under- 
goes such chemical changes as are necessary to growth. 

The compound substances contained in plants are 
of two classes, those not containing nitrogen, and 
those which do contain it. 

The first class constitute nearly the whole plant. 

The second class, although small in quantity, are 
of the greatest importance to the farmer, as from 
them all animal muscle is made. 

Animals, like plants, are composed of both at- 
mospheric and earthy matter, and their bodies are 
obtained directly or indirectly from plants. 

The first class of compounds in animals comprise 
the fat, and like tissues. 

The second class form the muscle, hair, gelatine 
of the bones, etc. 

In order that they may be perfectly developed, 
animals must eat nitrogenized and non-nitrogenized 
food, and in the proportions required by their 
natures. 

They require phosphate of lime and other mineral 
food which exists in plants. 

Aside from their use in the formation of fat, sub- 
stances of the first class are employed in the lungs 
and blood-vessels as fuel to keep up animal heat, 
which is produced (as in fire and decay) by their 
decomposition. 

When the food is insufficient for the purposes of 
heat, the animal's own fat is decomposed, and carried 
to the lungs as fuel. 



THE PLANT. 53 

The stems, roots, branches, etc., of most plants 
consist principally of woody fibre. 

Their seeds, and sometimes their roots, contain 
considerable quantities of starch. 

The nitrogenized substances and the oils of most 
plants exist most largely in the seeds, therefore seeds 
are the most nutritious food for animals, because 
they contain the largest proportion of digestible 
matter. 

The location of the different compounds in the 
plant, as well as of its mineral parts, shows a remark- 
able reference to the purposes of growth, and to the 
wants of the animal world, as is noticed in the 
difference between the construction of the straw and 
that of the kernel of wheat. 

The reason why the fine flour now made is not 
so healthfully nutritious as that which contained 
more of the coarse portions, is that it is robbed of a 
large proportion of protein and phosphate of lime, 
while it contains an undue amount of starch, which 
is available only to form fat, and to supply fuel to 
the lungs. 

Different plants have ashes of different composi- 
tion. Thus — one may take from the soil large 
quantities of potash, another of phosphoric acid, and 
another of lime. By understanding these differ- 
ences, we shall be able so to regulate our rotations 
that the soil may not be called on to supply more of 
one ingredient than of another, and thus it may be 
kept in balance. 

The facts contained in this chapter are the alpha- 



54 THE PLANT. 

bet of agriculture, and the learner should become 
perfectly familiar with them, before proceeding 
further. 

To enter more fully and more scientifically upon 
the consideration of the various properties of these 
substances, and of their relations to each other, 
would, no doubt, be in better accordance with the 
demands of accurate knowledge ; but the foregoing 
is believed to be a perfectly true, although a very 
simple statement of the first principles of the growth 
and composition of plants, and is sufficient for the 
first steps in agricultural study. 

A clear comprehension of what is herein set forth 
should have the effect of stimulating a further search, 
in which more extended treatises will become neces- 
sary. 



SECTION SECOND. 

THE SOIL 



SECTION SECOND. 

THE SOIL. 

•-♦-• 

CHAPTEE I. 

FORMATION AND CHARACTER OF THE 

SOIL. 

In the foregoing section, we have studied the cha- 
racter of plants and the laws which govern their 
growth. We learned that one necessary condition 
for growth is a fertile soil, and we must examine the 
nature of different soils, in order that we may under- 
stand the relations between them and plants. 

The soil is not to be regarded as a mysterious mass 
of dirt, whereon crops are produced by a mysterious 
process. Well ascertained scientific knowledge has 
proved beyond question that all soils, whether in 
America or Asia, whether in Maine or California, 
have certain fixed properties, which render them 
fertile or barren, and their fertility or barrenness de- 
pends, first of all, on the presence or absence of those 
minerals which constitute the ashes of vegetable pro- 
ductions. 



58 THE SOIL. 

The soil is a great chemical compound, and its 
chemical character is ascertained (as in the case of 
plants) by analyzing it, or taking it apart. 

We first learn that fertile soils contain both at- 
mospheric and earthy matter ; but, unlike the plant, 
they usually possess much more of the latter than of 
the former. 

In the plant, the atmospheric matter constitutes 
the most considerable portion of the whole. In the 
soil, on the contrary, it usually exists in very small 
quantities, while the earthy parts constitute nearly 
the whole bulk. 

The atmospheric or organic part of soils consists of 
the same materials that constitute the atmospheric 
part of the plants, and is in reality decayed vegetable 
and animal matter. It is not necessary that this 
organic part of the soil should form any particular 
proportion of the whole, and indeed we find it vary- 
ing from one and a half to fifty, and sometimes, in 
peaty soils, to over seventy per cent. All fertile soils 
contain some organic matter, although it seems to 
make but little difference in fertility, whether it be 
five or fifty per cent. 

The earthy part of soils is derived from the 
crumbling of rocks. Some rocks (such as the slates 
in Central New York) decompose, and crumble rap- 
idly on being exposed to the weather ; while granite, 
marble, and other rocks, will last for a long time 
without perceptible change. The causes of this 
crumbling are various, and are important to be un- 
derstood by the agriculturist, as by the same process- 



THE SOIL. 59 

es by which the soil was originally formed, he can 
increase its depth, or otherwise improve it. This 
being the case, we will in a few words explain some 
of the principal pulverizing agents. 

1. The action of frost. "When water lodges in 
the crevices of rocks, and freezes^ it expands, and 
bursts the rock, on the same principle that causes 
it to break a pitcher in winter. This power is very 
great, and by its assistance large cannon may be 
burst. Of course, the action of frost is the same on 
a small scale as when applied to large masses of mat- 
ter, and, therefore, we find that when water freezes 
in the pores * of rocks or stones, it separates their 
particles and causes them to crumble. The same rule 
holds true with regard to stiff clay soils. If they are 
ridged in autumn, and left with a rough surface ex- 
posed to the frosts of winter, they will become much 
lighter and finer, and can afterwards be worked with 
less difficulty. 

2. The action of water. Many kinds of rock 
become so soft on being soaked with water, that they 
readily crumble. 

3. The chemical changes of the constituents of the 
rock. Many kinds of rock are affected by exposure 
to the atmosphere, in such a manner, that changes 
take place in their chemical character, and cause 
them to fall to pieces. The red kellis of New Jer- 
sey, (a species of sandstone,) is, when first quarried, 
a very hard stone, but on exposure to the influ- 

* The spaces between the particles. 



60 THE SOIL. 

ences of the atmosphere, it becomes so soft that it 
may be easily crushed between the thumb and finger. 

Other actions, of a less simple kind, exert an in- 
fluence on the stubbornness of rocks, and cause them 
to be resolved into soils. * Of course, the composi- 
tion of the soil must be similar to that of the rock 
from which it was formed ; and consequently, if we 
know the chemical character of the rock, we can tell 
whether the soil formed from it can be brought under 
profitable cultivation. Thus felspar, on being pul- 
verized, yields potash ; talcose slate yields magnesia ; 
marls yield lime, etc. 

The soil formed entirely from rock, contains, of 
course, no organic matter. Still, it is capable of 
bearing plants of a certain class, and when these die, 
they are deposited in the soil, and thus form its or- 
ganic portions, rendering it capable of supporting 
those plants which furnish food for animals. Thou- 
sands of years must have been occupied in prepa- 
ring the earth for habitation by man. 

As the earthy part of the soil is usually the lar- 
gest, we will consider it first. 

As we have stated that this portion is formed 
from rocks, we will examine their character, with a 
view to showing the diiferent qualities of soils. 

As a general rule, it may be stated that all rocks 

* In very many instances the crevices and seams of rocks are 
permeated by roots, which, by decaying and thus inducing' the 
growth of other roots, cause these crevices to become filled with 
organic matter. This, by the absorption of moisture, may expand 
with sufficient power to burst the rock. 



THE SOIL. 61 

are either sandstones, limestones, or clays y or a mix- 
ture of two or more of th^se ingredients. Hence we 
find that all mineral soils are either sandy, calcareous 
(limey), or clayey y or consist of a mixture of these, 
in which one or another usually predominates. Thus, 
w T e speak of a sandy soil, a clay soil, etc. These 
distinctions (sandy, clayey, loamy, etc.) are impor- 
tant in considering the mechanical character of the 
soil, but have little reference to its chemical condi- 
tions of fertility. 

By mechanical character, we mean those qualities 
which affect the ease of cultivation — excess or defi- 
ciency of water, ability to withstand drought, etc. 
For instance, a heavy clay soil is difficult to plow, 
retains water after rains, and bakes quite hard dur- 
ing drought ; while a light sandy soil is plowed with 
ease, often allows water to pass through immediately 
after rains, and becomes dry and powdery during 
drought. Notwithstanding; those differences in their 
mechanical character, both soils may be very fertile, 
or one more so than the other, without reference to 
the clay and sand which they contain, and which, to 
our observation, form their leading characteristics. 
The same facts exist with regard to a loam, a calca- 
reous (or limey) soil, or a vegetable mould. Their 
mechanical texture is not necessarily an index to 
their fertility, nor to the manures required to enable 
them to furnish food to plants. It is true, that each 
kind of soil appears to have some general quality of 
fertility or barrenness which is well known to prac- 
tical men, yet this is not founded on the fact that 



62 THE SOIL. 

the clay or the sand, or the vegetable matter, enter 
more largely into the constitution of plants than they 
do when they are not present in so great quantities, 
but on certain other facts which will be hereafter 
explained. 

As the following names are used to denote the 
character of soils, in ordinary agricultural descrip- 
tion, we will briefly explain their application : 

A Sandy soil is, of course, one in which sand 
largely predominates. 

Clay soil, one where clay forms a large proportion 
of the soil. 

Loamy soil, where sand and clay are more equally 
mixed. 

Marl contains from five to twenty per cent, of 
carbonate of lime. 

Calcareous soil more than twenty per cent. 

Peaty soils i of course, contain large quantities of 
organic matter.* 

We will now take under consideration that part 
of the soil on which depends its ability to supply 
food to the plant. This portion rarely constitutes 
more than five or ten per cent, of the entire soil, 
often much less — and it has no reference to the sand, 
clay, and vegetable matters which they contain. 
From analyses of many fertile soils, and of others 
which are barren or of poorer quality, it has been 
ascertained that the presence of certain ingre- 
dients is necessary to fertility. This may be bet- 

* These distinctions are not essential to be learned, but are 
often convenient. 



THE SOIL. 



63 



ter explained by the assistance of the following 
table : 



In one hundred pounds. 

Organic matter . . . 
Silicic acid (sand) . . 
Alumina (clay) . . . 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Oxide of iron . 
Oxide of manganese . 

Potash 

Soda 

Chlorine 

Sulphuric acid . 
Phosphoric acid . 
Carbonic acid 
Loss during the analysis 



Soil fertile 
without 


Good 
wheat soil. 


manure. 




9.7 


7.0 


64.8 


74.3 


5.7 


5.5 


5.9 


1.4 


.9 


.7 


6.1 


4.7 


.1 




.2 


1.7 


.4 


.7 


.2 


.1 


.2 


.1 


.4 


•H 


4.0 




1.4 


3,6* 


100.0 


100.0 



BarreD. 



4.0 
77.8 

9.1 
.4 
.1 

8.1 
.1 



100.0 



The soil represented in the first and second columns 
might still be fertile with less organic matter, or with 
a larger proportion of clay (alumina), and less sand 
(silicic acid). These affect its mechanical character ; 
but, if we look down the columns, we notice that there 
are small quantities of lime, magnesia and the other 
constituents of the ashes of plants (except oxide of 
manganese). It is not necessary that they should be 
present in the soil in the exact quantity named above, 
but not one must he entirely absent, or greatly reduced 
in proportion. By referring to the third column, we 
see that these ingredients are not all present, and the 
soil is barren. Even if it were supplied with all but 
one or two, potash and soda for instance, it could not 
support a crop without the assistance of manures con- 



64 THE SOIL. 

taining these alkalies. The reason for this must be 
readily seen, as we have learned that no plant can arrive 
at maturity without the necessary supply of materials 
required in the formation of the ash, and these mate- 
rials can be obtained only from the soil; consequent- 
ly, when they do not exist there, it must be barren. 

The earthy part of soils has two distinct offices to 
perform. The clay and sand form a mass of material 
into which roots can penetrate, and which support 
plants in their position. These parts also absorb 
heat, air and moisture, to serve the purposes of growth, 
as we shall see in a future chapter. The minute 
portions of soil, which comprise the acids, alkalies 
and neutrals, furnish plants with their ashes, and are 
the most necessary to the fertility of the soil. 

GEOLOGY. 

The relation between the earthy parts of soils and 
the rocks from which it was formed, is the foundation 
of Agricultural Geology. Geology may be briefly 
named the science of the rocks. It would not be ap- 
propriate in an elementary work, to introduce much 
of this study, and we will therefore simply state that 
the same kind of rock is of the same composition all 
the world over ; consequently, if we find a soil 
in New England formed from any particular rock, 
and a soil from the same rock in Asia, their natural 
fertility will be the same in both localities. All rocks 
consist of a mixture of different kinds of minerals ; 
and some, consisting chiefly of one ingredient, are of 



THE SOIL. 65 

different degrees of hard?iess. Both of these qualities 
must affect the character of the soil, but it may be 
laid down as a rule that, token the rocks of two loca- 
tions are exactly alike, the soils formed from them 
will he of the same natural fertility, and in propor- 
tion as the chemical character of rocks changes, in 
the same proportion will the soils differ in fertility. 

In most districts the soil is formed from the rock 
on which it lies ; but this is not always the case. 
Soils are often formed by deposits of matter brought 
by water from other localities. Thus the alluvial 
banks of rivers consist of matters brought from the 
country through which the rivers have passed. The 
river Xile, in Egypt, yearly overflows its banks, and 
deposits large quantities of mud brought from the un- 
inhabited upper countries. The prairies of the West 
owe their soil chiefly to deposits by water. Swamps 
often receive the washings of adjacent hills ; and, in 
these cases, their soil is derived from a foreign source. 

We might continue to enumerate instances of the 
relations between soils and the sources whence they 
originated, thus demonstrating more fully the impor- 
tance of geology to the farmer ; but it would be be- 
yond the scope of this work, and should be investi- 
gated by scholars more advanced than those who are 
studying merely the elements of agricultural science. 

The mind, in its early application to any branch 
of study, should not be charged with intricate subjects. 
It should master well the rudiments, before investi- 
gating those matters which should follow such under- 
standing. 



00 THE SOIL. 

By pursuing the proper course, it is easy to learn 
all that is necessary to form a good foundation for a 
thorough acquaintance with the subject. If this 
foundation is laid thoroughly, the learner will regard 
plants and soils as old acquaintances, with whose 
formation and properties he is as familiar as with the 
construction of a building or a simple machine. A 
simple spear of grass will become an object of inter- 
est, forming itself into a perfect plant, with full de- 
velopment of roots, stems, leaves, and seeds, by pro- 
cesses with which he feels acquainted. The soil will 
cease to be mere dirt ; it will be viewed as a com- 
pound substance, whose composition is a matter of 
interest, and whose care may become a source of in- 
tellectual pleasure. The commencement of study 
in any science must necessarily be wearisome to the 
untrained mind, but its more advanced stages amply 
repay the trouble of early exertions. 



CHAPTEK II. 

USES OF ATMOSPHERIC MATTER. 

It will be recollected that, in addition to its mineral 
portions, the soil contains atmospheric or organic mat- 
ter in varied quantities. It may be fertile with but 
one and a half per cent, of atmospheric matter, and 
some peaty soils contain more than fifty per cent, or 
more than one-half of the whole. 



THE SOIL. C>7 

The precise amount necessary cannot be fixed at 
any particular proportion ; probably five parts in a 
hundred is better than a smaller amount. 

The soil obtains its atmospheric matter in two 
ways. First, by the decay of roots and dead plants, 
also of leaves, which have been brought to it by 
wind, etc. Second, by the application of animal or 
vegetable manures. 

When a crop of clover is raised, it obtains its car- 
bon from the atmosphere ; and, if it be plowed 
under, and allowed to decay, a portion of this carbon 
is deposited in the soil. Carbon constitutes nearly 
the whole of the dry weight of the clover, aside from 
the constituents of water ; and when we calculate 
the immense quantity of hay and roots grown on 
an acre of soil in a single season, we shall find that 
the amount of carbon thus deposited is immense. 
If the clover be removed, and the roots only left to 
decay, the amount of carbon deposited would still be 
very great. The same is true in all cases where the 
crop is removed, and the roots remain to add to the 
organic or vegetable part of the soil. While under- 
going decomposition, a p.-.tion of this matter escapes 
in the form of gas, and the remainder chiefly assumes 
the form of carbon (or charcoal), in which form it 
will always remain, without loss, unless driven out by 
fire. If a bushel of charcoal be mixed with the soil 
now, it will be the same bushel of charcoal, neither 
more nor less, a thousand years hence, unless some 
influence is brought to bear on it aside from the 
growth of plants. It is true that, in the case of the 



68 THE SOIL. 

decomposition of organic matter in the soil, certain 
compounds are formed, known under the general 
names of humus and Kumic acid, which may, in a 
slight degree, affect the growth of plants, bat their 
practical importance is of too doubtful a character 
to justify us in considering them. The application 
of manures, containing organic matter, such as peat, 
muck, animal manure, etc., supplies the soil with 
carbon on the same principle, and the decomposing 
matters also generate * carbonic acid gas while being 
decomposed. The agricultural value of carbon in 
the soil depends (as we have stated), not on the fact 
that it enters into the composition of plants, but on 
certain other important offices which it performs, as 
follows : — 

1. It makes the soil more retentive of manures. 

2. It causes it to appropriate larger quantities of 
the fertilizing gases of the atmosphere. 

3. It gives it greater power to absorb moisture. 

4. It renders it warmer. 

1. Carbon (or charcoal) makes the soil retentive 
of manures, because it has in itself a strong power 
to absorb, and retain fertilizing matters. There is 
a simple experiment by which this power can be 
shown. 

Ex. — Take two barrels of pure beach sand, and 
mix with the sand in one barrel a few handfuls of 
charcoal dust, leaving that in the other pure. Pour 
a pailful of the brown liquor of the barn-yard 
through the pure sand, and it will pass out at the 

* Produce. 



THE SOIL. 69 

bottom unaltered. Pour the same liquor through 
the barrel containing the charcoal, and only pure 
water will pass through. The reason for this is that 
the charcoal retains all of the impurities of the 
liquor, and allows only the water to pass through. 
Charcoal is often employed to purify water for 
drinking, or for manufacturing purposes. 

A rich garden-soil contains large quantities of 
carbonaceous matter ; and if we bury in such a soil 
a piece of tainted meat or a fishy duck, it will, in a 
short time, be deprived of its odor, which will be 
entirely absorbed by the charcoal and clay in the 
soil. 

Carbon absorbs gases, as well as the impurities of 
water ; and, if a little charcoal be sprinkled over 
manure, or any other substance, emitting offensive 
odors, the gases escaping will be taken up by the 
charcoal, and the odor will be very much modified. 

It has also the power of absorbing earthy matters, 
which are contained in water. If a quantity of salt 
water be filtered through charcoal, the salt will be 
retained, and the water will pass through pure. 

We are now able to see how carbon renders the 
soil retentive of manures. 

1st. Manures, which resemble the brown liquor 
of barn -yards, have their fertilizing matters taken 
out, and retained by it. 

2d. The gases arising from the decomposition 
{rotting) of manure are absorbed by it. 

3d. The soluble earthy portions of manure, which 
might in some soils leach down with water, are 



70 THE SOIL. 

arrested and retained at a point at which they can be 
taken up by the roots of plants. 

2. Carbon in the soil causes it to appropriate 
larger quantities of the fertilizing gases of the atmos- 
phere, on account of its power, as just named, to ab- 
sorb gases. 

The atmosphere contains gases, which have been 
produced by the breathing of animals, by the decom- 
position of various kinds of organic matter, which 
are exposed to atmospheric influences, and by the 
burning of wood, coal, etc. These gases are chiefly 
ammonia and carbonic acid, both of which are largely 
absorbed by water, and consequently are contained 
in rain, snow, and dew, which, as they enter the soil, 
give up these gases to the carbon, and they there 
remain until required by plants. Even the air itself, 
in circulating through the soil, gives up fertilizing 
gases to the carbon, which it may contain. 

3. Carbon gives to the soil power to absorb 
moisture, because it is itself one of the best absorb- 
ents in nature ; and it has been proved by accurate 
experiment that peaty soils absorb moisture w T ith 
greater rapidity, and part with it more slowly than 
any others. 

4. Carbon in the soil renders it warmer, because 
it darkens its color. Black surfaces absorb more heat 
than light ones, and a black coat, when worn in the 
sun, is warmer than one of a lighter color. By mix- 
ing carbon with the soil, we darken its color, and 
render it capable of absorbing a greater amount of 
heat from the sun's rays. 



THE SOIL. 71 

It will be recollected that, when vegetable matter 
decomposes in the soil, it produces certain gases (car- 
bonic acid, etc.), which either escape into the atmos- 
phere, or are retained in the soil for the use of plants. 
The production of these gases is always accompanied 
by heat, which, though scarcely perceptible to our 
senses, is perfectly so to the growing plant, and is of 
much practical importance. This will be examined 
more fully in speaking of manures. 

Another important part of the organic matter in 
the soil is that which contains nitrogen. This forms 
but a very small portion of the soil, but it is of 
very great importance to vegetation. As nitrogen 
in food is of absolute necessity to the growth of 
animals, so nitrogen in the soil is indispensable to the 
growth of cultivated plants. It is obtained by the 
soil in the form of ammonia (or nitric acid) from the 
atmosphere, or by the application of animal or vege- 
table matter. In some cases, manures called nitrates* 
are used; and, in this manner, nitrogen is given to 
the soil. 

We have now learned that the atmospheric mat- 
ter in the soil performs the following offices : — 

Organic matter thoroughly decomposed is chiefly 
carbon, and has the various effects ascribed to this 
substance on p. 68. 

Organic matter in process of decay produces car- 

* Nitrates are compounds of nitric acid (which consists of ni- 
trogen and oxygen) , and alkaline substances. Thus nitrate of 
potash (saltpetre), is composed of nitric acid and potash ; nitrate 
of soda (cubical nitre or cubic-petre), of nitric acid and soda. 



72 THE SOIL. 

bonic acid and ammonia in the soil ; its decay also 
causes heat. 

Organic matters containing nitrogen, such as ani- 
mal substances, etc., furnish ammonia, and other ni- 
trogenous substances to the roots of plants. 



CHAPTER III. 

USES OF EARTHY MATTER. 

The offices performed by the earthy constituents of 
the soil are many and important. 

These, as well as the different conditions in which 
the bodies exist, are necessary to be carefully consid- 
ered. 

Those parts which constitute the larger proportion 
of the soil, namely the clay, sand, and limy portions, 
are useful for purposes which have been named in the 
first part of this section, while the clay has an addi- 
tional effect in the absorption of ammonia. 

For this purpose, it is quite as effectual as charcoal ; 
the gases escaping from manures, as well as those ex- 
isting in the atmosphere, and in rain-water, being 
arrested by clay as well as by charcoal. 

The more minute ingredients of the soil — those 
which enter into the construction of plants — exist in 
conditions which are more or less favorable or in- 
jurious to vegetable growth. The principal condi- 



THE SOIL. 73 

tion necessary to fertility is capacity to be dissolved, 
it being (so far as we have been able to ascertain) a 
fixed rule, as was stated in the first section, that no 
mineral substance can enter into the roots of a plant 
except it be dissolved in water. 

The alkalies potash, soda, lime, and magnesia, are- 
in nearly all of their combinations in the soil suffi- 
ciently soluble for the purposes of growth. 

The acids are, as will be recollected, sulphuric, 
silicic, and phosphoric. These exist in the soil in 
combination with the alkalies, as sulphates, silicates, 
and phosphates, which are more or less soluble under 
natural circumstances. Phosphoric acid in combi- 
nation with lime as phosphate of lime is but slightly 
soluble ; but, when it exists or has existed in the com- 
pound known as s<^rphosphate of lime, it is much 
more soluble, and consequently enters into the com- 
position of plants with much greater facility. This 
matter will be more fully explained in the section on 
manures. Silicic acid exists in the soil usually in the 
form of sand, in which it is, as is well known, per- 
fectly insoluble ; and, before it can be used by plants, 
which often require it in large quantities, it must be 
made soluble, by combination with an alkali. 

For instance, if there is a deficiency of soluble 
silicic acid in the soil, the application of an alkali, 
such as potash, which will unite with the sand, and 
form the silicate of potash, will give it the ability to 
be dissolved and carried into the roots of plants. 

Chlorine in the soil is probably always in an 

available condition. 

4 



74 THE SOIL. 

Oxide of iron exists, as lias been previously stated, 
usually in the form of the j^oxide (or red oxide). 
Sometimes, however, it is found in the form of the 
protoxide (or black oxide), which is soluble and is 
poisonous to plants, and renders the soil unfertile. 
By loosening the soil in such a manner as to admit 
the air, and by removing stagnant water by draining, 
this compound takes up more oxygen, which renders 
it a peroxide, and makes it insoluble except in the 
slight degree required for plants. The oxide of 
manganese is probably of little consequence. 

The usefulness of all of these matters in the soil 
depends largely on their exposure to the action of 
roots and of the circulating water in the soil ; if 
they are in the interior of particles, they cannot be 
made use of; while, if the particles are so pulverized 
that their constituents are exposed on their surfaces, 
they become available, because water can immediate- 
ly attack to dissolve them and roots can absorb them. 

This is one of the great offices of plowing, harrow- 
ing, cultivating, and hoeing ; the lumps of soil being 
thereby more broken up and exposed to the action 
of atmospheric influences, which are often necessary 
to produce a fertile condition of soil. 

SUBSOIL. 

The subsoil is usually of a different character from 
the surface soil, but this difference is more often the 
result of cultivation and the effect of vegetation than 
of a different original formation. The surface soil, 



THE SOIL. 75 

from having been long cultivated, has been more 
opened to the influences of the air than is the case 
with the subsoil, which has never been disturbed so 
as to allow the same action. Again the growth of 
plants has supplied the surface soil with roots, which 
bj decaying have given it organic matter, thus dark- 
ening its color, rendering it warmer, and giving it 
greater ability to absorb heat and moisture, and to 
retain manures. All of these effects render the sur- 
face soil more fertile than it was before vegetable 
growth commenced, unless, by the removal of crops, 
its earthy plant-food has been too much reduced ; 
and, where frequent cultivation and manures have 
been applied, a still greater benefit has resulted. In 
most instances the subsoil may, by the same means, 
be gradually improved in condition until it equals 
the surface soil in fertility. The means of produc- 
ing this result, also further accounts of its advan- 
tages, will be given under the head of Cultivation 
(Sec. IV.). 

IMPROVEMENT. 

From what has now been said of the character of 
the soil, it must be evident that, as we know the 
causes of fertility and barrenness, we may by the 
proper means inprove the character of all soils 
which are not now in the highest state of fertility. 

Chemical analysis of the soil cannot give us any 
reliable indication of its fertility or barrenness ; so 
much depends on the state of solubility of the min- 
eral plant-food, on the uniformity of its distribution 



76 THE SOIL. 

through the soil, on the extent to which it is exposed 
on the surface of particles, and probably on other 
conditions concerning which we are in doubt, or of 
which we are entirely ignorant, that the mere weigh- 
ing and measuring of the laboratory, has very little, 
if any, value to the practical farmer. 

We can learn something of the capacities of the 
soil from the character of the plants which grow 
naturally upon it, and much more from its ability 
to produce larger crops of one kind than of another ; 
something from the effect of different mineral ma- 
nures upon plants growing on it. 

The best use to which the farmer can apply the 
teachings of chemistry is in making such improve- 
ments as the foregoing indications show to be neces- 
sary, and, above all, in giving to the soil for each 
crop, or for each rotation of crops, the full equiva- 
lent of the minerals that they take away. 

An examination, such as any farmer may make, 
will show us its deficiencies in mechanical character, 
and we may apply the proper treatment to increase 
fertility. In some instances the soil may contain 
everything that is required, but not in the proper 
condition. For instance, in some parts of Massachu- 
setts, there are nearly barren soils which show by 
analysis precisely the same chemical composition as 
the soil of the Miami valley of Ohio, one of the most 
fertile in the world. The cause of this great differ- 
ence in their agricultural capabilities, is that the 
Miami soil has its particles finely pulverized ; while 
in the Massachusetts soil the ingredients are com- 



THE SOIL. 77 

bined within particles (such as pebbles, etc.), where 
they are out of the reach of roots. 

In other cases, we find two soils, which are equal- 
ly well pulverized, which are of the same color and 
texture, and which appear to be of the same char- 
acter, yet having very different power to support 
crops. Chemical analysis, could it accurately show, 
not only the kinds and quantities of plant food con- 
tained in these soils, but the condition in which it 
exists as to solubility, etc., would undoubtedly in- 
dicate a very great difference between them. 

All of these differences may be overcome by the 
use of the proper means. Sometimes it could be 
done at an expense which would be justified by the 
result ; and at others, it might require too large an 
outlay to be profitable. It becomes a question of 
economy, not of ability, and science is able to estimate 
the cost. 

A soil cannot be cultivated understanding^ until 
it has been rigidly subjected to such examinations as 
will tell us, as nearly as any examination can tell it, 
what is necessary to render it fertile. Even after 
fertility is perfectly restored it requires thought and 
care to maintain it. The different ingredients of 
the soil must be returned in the form of manures as 
largely as they are removed by the crop, or the sup- 
ply will eventually become too small for the purposes 
of vegetation. 



SECTION THIRD. 

MANURES. 



SECTION THIRD. 

MANURES. 



CHAPTER I. 

CHARACTER AND VARIETIES OF MA- 
NURES. 

The study of the science of manures is one of the 
most important branches of the practical education 
of a farmer. No baker would be called a good prac- 
tical baker, who kept his flour exposed to the sun and 
rain. No shoemaker would be called a good practi- 
cal shoemaker, who used morocco for the soles of his 
shoes, and heavy leather for the uppers. No car- 
penter would be called a good practical carpenter, 
who tried to build a house without nails, or other 
fastenings. So with the farmer. He cannot be 
called a good practical farmer if he keeps the ma- 
terials, from which he is to make plants, in such a 
condition, that they will have their value destroyed, 

uses them in the wrong places, or tries to put them 

4* 



82 MANURES. 

together without having everything present that is 
necessary. Before he can work to the best advan- 
tage, he must know what manures are composed of, 
how they are to be preserved, where they are needed, 
and what kinds are required. True, he may from 
observation and experience, guess at results, but he 
cannot know that he is right, and that he gets his re- 
sults in the cheapest and most economical way, until 
he has learned the facts above named. In this section 
of our work, we shall endeavor to convey some of the 
information necessary to this branch of practical 
farming. 

We shall adopt a classification of the subject some- 
what different from that found in most works on 
manures, but the facts are the same. The action of 
manures is either mechanical or chemical, or a com- 
bination of both. For instance : some kinds of ma- 
nure improve the mechanical character of the soil, 
such as those which loosen stiff clay soils, or others 
which render light sandy soils compact — these are 
called mechanical manures. Some again furnish food 
for plants — these are called chemical manures. 

Many mechanical manures produce their effects 
by means of chemical action. Thus potash combines 
chemically with sand in the soil. In so doing, it 
roughens the surfaces of the particles of sand, and 
renders the soil less liable to be compacted by rains. 
In this manner, it acts as a mechanical manure. The 
compound of sand and potash,* as well as the potash 
alone, may enter into the composition of plants, and 
* Silicate of potash. 



MANURES. 83 

hence it is a chemical manure. In other words, pot- 
ash belongs to both classes described. 

It is important that this distinction should be well 
understood by the learner, as the words " mechani- 
cal " and " chemical " in connection with manures 
will be made use of through the following pages. 

There is another class of manures which we shall 
call absorbents. These comprise those substances 
which have the power of taking up fertilizing mat- 
ters, and retaining them for the use of plants. For 
instance, charcoal is an absorbent. As was stated 
in the section on soils, this substance is a retainer 
of all fertilizing gases and of many minerals. 
Other matters made use of in agriculture have the 
same effect. These absorbents will be spoken of 
more fully in their proper places. 

TABLE. 

Mechanical Manures are those which improve 

the mechanical conditions of 

Chemical " soils are those which serve as 

food for plants. 

MANURES. 

Absorbents are those substances which absorb and 
retain fertilizing matters. 
Manure may be divided into three classes, viz. : 
organic, mineral, and atmospheric. 



84 MANURES. 

Organic manures comprise all animal and vege- 
table matters which are used to fertilize the soil, such 
as dung, swamp-muck, etc. 

Mineral manures are those which are of a purely 
mine? i al character, such as lime, ashes, etc. 

Atmospheric manures consist of those organic 
manures which exist in the form of gases in the at- 
mosphere, and which are absorbed by rains and car- 
ried to the soil. These are of the greatest impor- 
tance. The ammonia and carbonic acid in the air 
are atmospheric manures. 



CHAPTER II. 

animal excrement. 

The first organic manure which we shall examine, 
is animal excrement. 

This is composed of those matters which have 
been eaten by the animal as food, and have been 
thrown off as solid or liquid manure. In order that 
we may know of what they consist, we must refer to 
the composition of food and examine the process of 
digestion. 

The food of animals, we have seen to consist of 
both atmospheric and earthy matters. The atmos- 
pheric part may be divided into two classes, i. e., 
that portion which contains nitrogen — such as glu- 



MANURES. 85 

ten, albumen, etc., and that which does not contain 
nitrogen — such as starch, sugar, oil, etc. 

The earthy part of food may also be divided into 
soluble matter and insoluble matter.* 

DIGESTION AND ITS PRODUCTS. 

Let us suppose that we have a full-grown ox, 
which is not increasing in any of his parts, but only 
consumes food to keep up his respiration, and to sup- 
ply the natural wastes of his body. To this ox we 
will feed a ton of hay which contains organic mat- 
ter, with and without nitrogen, and soluble and 
insoluble earthy substances. Now let us try to fol- 
low the food through its changes in the animal, and 
see what becomes of it. Liebig compares the con- 
sumption of food by animals to the imperfect burning 
of wood in a stove, where a portion of the fuel is resolv- 
ed into gases and ashes (that is, it is completely burn- 
ed), and another portion, which is not thoroughly burn- 
ed, passes oif as soot. In the animal action in ques- 
tion, the food undergoes changes which are similar 
to this burning of wood. A part of the food is di- 
gested and taken up by the blood, while another por- 
tion remains undigested, and passes the bowels as 
solid dung — corresponding to the soot of combus- 
tion. This part of the dung, then, we see is merely 
so much of the food as passes through the system 

* No part of animal manure is permanently and entirely insol- 
uble. It would perhaps be better to classify these substances as 
(1) those which are readily soluble, and (2) those which are but 
slowly soluble. 



86. MANURES. 

without being materially changed. Its nature is 
easily understood. It contains organic and mineral 
matters in nearly the condition in which they existed 
in the hay. They have been rendered finer and softer, 
but their chemical character (their composition) is not 
materially altered. The dung also contains small 
quantities of nitrogenous matter, which has leaked 
out, as it were, from the stomach and intestines. 
The digested food, however, undergoes further 
changes which affect its character, and it escapes 
from the body in three ways — i. e., through the 
lungs and skin, through the bladder, and through 
the bowels. It will be recollected from the first 
section of this book, p. 20, that the carbon in the 
blood of animals unites with the oxygen of the air 
drawn into the lungs, and is thrown off in the 
breath as carbonic acid. The hydrogen and oxygen 
unite to form a part of the water which constitutes 
the moisture of the breath. 

That portion of the atmospheric part of the hay 
which has been taken up by the blood of the ox, and 
which does not contain nitrogen, is emitted through 
the lungs. It consists, as will be recollected, of car- 
bon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and these assume, in res- 
piration, the form of carbonic acid and water. 

The atmospheric matter of the digested hay, in 
the blood, which does contain nitrogen, goes to the 
bladder, where it assumes the form of urea — a consti- 
tuent of urine or liquid manure. 

We have now disposed of the imperfectly digested 
food (the dung), and of the atmospheric matter which 



MANURES. ' §7 

was taken up by the blood. All that remains to be 
examined is the earthy matter in the blood, which 
would have become ashes, if the hay had been 
burned. The readily soluble part of this earthy mat- 
ter passes into the bladder, and forms the earthy 
parts of urine. The more insoluble part passes the 
bowels, in connection with the dung. 

If any of the food taken up by the blood is not 
returned as above stated, it goes to form fat, muscle, 
hair, bones, or some other part of the animal, and as 
he is not growing (not increasing in weight) an 
equivalent amount of the body of the animal goes to 
the manure to take the place of the part retained.* 

We now have our subject in a form to be readily 
understood. We learn that when food is given to 
animals it is not put out of existence, but is merely 
changed in form • and that in the impurities of the 
breath, we have a large portion of those parts of the 
food which plants obtain from air and from water ; 
while the solid and liquid excrements contain all that 
was taken by the plants from the soil and from manures. 
The Solid Dung contains the undigested parts of the 

food, the more insoluble 
parts of the ash, and the 
nitrogenous matters which 
have escaped from the di- 
gestive organs. 

* This account of digestion is not, perhaps, strictly accurate in 
a physiological point of view, but it is sufficiently so to give an 
elementary understanding of the character of excrement as 
manure. 



88 MANURES. 

The Liquid Manure contains the nitrogenous parts of 

the digested food, and the 
soluble parts of the ash. 
The Breath contains those parts of the fully di- 
gested food which contain 
carbon, hydrogen, and oxy- 
gen, but no nitrogen, or at 
least a very inconsiderable 
quantity of it. 



CHAPTER III. 



WASTE OF MANURE 



The loss of manure is a subject which demands most 
serious attention. Until within comparatively few 
years, little was known of the true character of 
manures, and consequently of the importance of 
protecting them against loss. 

The chief causes of waste are evaporation and 
leaching. 

EVAPORATION. 

Evaporation is the changing of a solid or liquid 
body to a vapory form. Thus common smelling 
salts, a solid, if left exposed, passes into the atmos- 
phere in the form of a gas or vapor. Water, a liquid, 
evaporates, and becomes a vapor in the atmosphere. 



MANURES. 89 

This is the case with very many substances in or- 
ganic nature, both solid and liquid : they are liable 
to assume a gaseous form, and become mixed with 
the atmosphere. They are not destroyed, but are 
changed in form. 

As an instance of this action, suppose an animal 
to die and to decay on the surface of the earth. 
After a time, the flesh will entirely disappear, but is 
not lost. It no longer exists as the flesh of an ani- 
mal, but its carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, 
Ftill exist in the air. They have been liberated from 
the attractions which held them together, and have 
passed away ; but (as' we already know from what 
has been said in a former section) they are ready to 
be again taken up by plants, and pressed into the 
service of life. 

The evaporation of liquids may take place without 
the aid of anything but heat ; but, in the case of 
solids, it is often assisted by decay and combustion, 
which break up the bonds that hold the constituents 
of bodies together, and thus enable them to return 
to the atmosphere, from which they were originally 
derived. 

It must be recollected that everything which has 
an odor (or can be smelled) is evaporating. The 
odor is caused by parts of the body floating in the 
air, and acting on the nerves of the nose. This is 
an invariable rule ; and when we perceive an odor, 
we may be sure that parts of the material from which 
it emanates are escaping. If we perceive the odor 
of an apple, it is because parts of the volatile oils of 



90 MANURES. 

the apple enter the nose. The same is true when we 
smell hartshorn, cologne, etc. 

The intensity of these odors bears no relation to 
the amount of the substance passing into the air ; for 
instance, a grain of musk will continue to give off 
a strong odor for many years, while gum camphor, 
with a much less intense odor, wastes away very 
rapidly. Ammonia escapes rapidly. 

Manures made by animals have an offensive odor, 
simply because volatile parts of the decomposing 
manure escape into the air, and are therefore made 
perceptible. All organic parts in turn may become 
volatile, assuming a gaseous 'form as they decom- 
pose. 

We do not see the gases rising, but there are many 
ways by which we can detect them. If we wave a 
feather over a manure heap, from which ammonia is 
escaping, the feather having been recently dipped in 
muriatic acid, white fumes will appear around the 
feather, being the muriate of ammonia formed by the 
union of the escaping gas with the acid. Not only 
ammonia, but also carbonic acid, and other gases 
which are useful to vegetation escape, and are given 
to the winds. Indeed it may be stated in few words 
that all of the organic part of plants (all that was ob- 
tained from the air, from water, and from ammonia), 
constituting more than nine-tenths of their dry weight, 
may be evaporated by the assistance of decay or 
combustion. The atmospheric parts of manures may 
be lost in the same manner ; and, if the process of 
decomposition be continued long enough, nothing 



MANURES. 9 1 

but a mass of earthy matter will remain, except a 
small quantity of carbon which has not been resolved 
into carbonic acid. 

The proportion of solid manure lost by evaporation 
(made volatile by the assistance of decay) may be a 
very large part of the whole. Manure cannot be kept 
a single day in its natural state without losing some- 
thing. It commences to give out an offensive odor 
immediately, and this odor is often accompanied, as 
was before stated, by the loss of some of its fertiliz- 
ing parts. 

Animal manure contains, as will be seen by refer- 
ence to p. 86, all of the substances contained in 
plants, though not always in the correct relative pro- 
portions to each other. When decomposition com- 
mences, the carbon unites with the oxygen of the 
air, and passes off as carbonic acid ; the hydrogen 
and oxygen combine to form water (which evapo- 
rates), and the nitrogen is mostly resolved into am- 
monia, which escapes into the atmosphere, unless ab- 
sorbed by substances artificially applied for the pur- 
pose, or retained by the carbon, organic acids, or 
other products of decomposition with which it may 
become united. 

If manure is thrown into heaps, it often ferments 
so rapidly as to produce sufiicien theat to set fire to 
some parts of the manure, and cause its gases to be 
thrown off with greater rapidity. This may be observ- 
ed in nearly all heaps of animal excrement. When 
they have lain for some time in mild weather, gray 
streaks of ashes are often to be seen in the centre of 



92 MANURES. 

the pile. The organic part of the manure having 
been burned away, nothing but the ash remains, — 
this is called fire-fanging. 

Manures kept in cellars without being mixed with 
refuse matter are subject to some loss by evaporation 
unless they are so situated as to absorb the urine, 
when they are less likely to become injuriously heated. 

When kept in the yard, they are much more liable 
to loss from excessive evaporation. They are here 
often saturated with the water of rains, which, in its 
evaporation, carries away ammonia and carbonic acid 
which it has obtained from the rotting mass. The 
evaporation of the water is rapidly carried on, on 
account of the great extent of surface. The whole 
mass is spongy, and soaks the liquids up from below 
(through hollow straws, etc.), to be evaporated at the 
surface on the same principle as causes the wick of a 
lamp to draw up the oil to supply fuel for the flame. 

Liquid Manure containing large quantities of 
nitrogen, and forming much ammonia, is also liable 
to lose all of its organic parts from evaporation (and 
fermentation), so that it is rendered as much less 
valuable as is the solid dung. 

From these remarks, it may be justly inferred that 
a very large portion of the value of solid and liquid 
manure may be lost by evaporation in a sufficient 
length of time, depending on circumstances, whether 
it be a few months or several years. The wasting 
commences as soon as the manure is dropped, and 
continues, except in very cold weather, until the 
destruction is complete. Hence we see that true 



MANURES. 93 

economy requires that the manures of the stable, 
sty, and poultry-house, should be protected (as will 
be hereafter described) as soon as possible after they 
are made. 

LEACHING. 

The subject of leaching is even more important 
in considering the earthy parts of manures than 
evaporation is to the atmospheric, while leaching also 
affects the atmospheric products of decay, they being 
absorbed by water to a great degree. 

A good illustration of leaching is found in the 
manufacture of potash. When water is poured over 
wood-ashes, it dissolves their potash which it carries 
through in solution, making ley. If ley is boiled to 
dryness, it leaves the potash in a solid form, proving 
that this substance had been dissolved by the water 
and removed from the insoluble parts of the ashes. 

In the same way, water in passing through ma- 
nures takes up their soluble portions as fast as liberated 
by decomposition, and carries them to waste, and they 
are lost to the manure. There is but a small quan- 
tity of ash exposed for leaching in fresh dung ; 
but, as the decomposition of the atmospheric part 
proceeds, it continues to develop it more and more 
(in the same manner as burning would do, only more 
slowly), thus preparing fresh supplies to be carried 
off with each shower. In this way, while manure 
may be largely injured by evaporation, the soluble 
parts may be removed by water until but a small 
remnant of its original fertilizing properties remains. 



94 MANUBE3. 

It is a singular fact concerning leaching, that 
water is able to carry no part of the organic con- 
stituents of vegetables to any considerable depth 
below the surface in a fertile soil. They would 
probably be carried to an unlimited distance in pure 
sand, as it contains nothing which is capable of ar- 
resting them ; but, in most soils, the clay and car- 
bon which they contain retain all of the ammonia ; 
also nearly all of the matters which go to form the 
ashes of plants very near the surface of the soil. If 
such were not the case, the fertility of the earth 
must soon be destroyed, as all of those elements 
which the soil must supply to growing plants would 
be carried down out of the reach of roots, and leave 
the world a barren waste, its surface having lost its 
elements of fertility, while the downward filtration 
of these would render the water of wells and springs 
unfit for our use. Now, however, they are all re- 
tained near the surface of the soil, and the water 
issues from springs comparatively pure. * 

Evapobation removes from manure — 

Carbon, in the form of carbonic acid. 
Hydrogen and oxygen, in the form of 

water. 
Nitrogen, in the form of ammonia. 
Leaching removes from manure — 

The soluble and most valuable parts of 
the ash in solution in water, besides 
carrying away some of the above- 
named forms of organic matter. 



MANURES. 95 

CHAPTEE IY. 

ABSORBENTS. 

Before considering further the subject of animal 
excrement, it is necessary to examine a class of ma- 
nures known as absorbents. These comprise all mat- 
ters which have the power of absorbing (or soaking 
up) the gases which arise from the evaporation of 
solid and liquid manures, and retaining them until 
required by plants. 

The most important of these is undoubtedly clay, 
which forms a large part of nearly all fertile soils. 
The use of this in connection with manure will be 
spoken of in describing the treatment of night-soil. 
For ordinary use one of the most valuable absorb- 
ents is charcoal. 

CHARCOAL. 

Charcoal, in an agricultual sense, means all forms 
of carbon, whether as peat, muck, charcoal dust from 
the spark-catchers of locomotives, charcoal hearths, 
river and swamp deposits, leaf mould, decomposed 
spent tanbark or sawdust, etc. In short, if any veg- 
etable matter is decomposed with the partial exclu- 
sion of air (so that there shall not be oxygen enough 
supplied to unite with all of the carbon), a portion 
of its carbon remains in the exact condition to per- 
form the best agricultural offices of charcoal. 

The operation of carbonaceous matter in the soil 



96 MANURES. 

was explained in a former section (Sec. 2), and we 
will now examine merely its action with regard to 
manures. When properly applied to manures, in 
compost, it has the following effects : 

1. It absorbs and retains the fertilizing gases evap- 
orating from decomposing matters. 

2. It acts as a divisor, thereby reducing the 
strength (or intensity) of powerful manures — thus 
rendering them less likely to injure the roots of 
plants ; and also increases their bulk, so as to pre- 
vent fire-fanging in composts. 

3. It in part prevents the leaching out of the solu- 
ble parts of the ash. 

4. It keeps the compost moist. 

The first-named office of charcoal, i. e., absorbing 
and retaining gases, is one of the utmost importance. 
It is this quality that gives to it so high a position 
in the opinion of all who have used it. As was 
stated in the section on soils, carbonaceous matter 
seems to be capable of absorbing everything which 
may be of use to vegetation. It is a grand purifier, 
and while it prevents offensive odors from escaping, 
it is at the same time storing its pores with food for 
the nourishment of plants. 

2d. In its capacity as a divisor for manures, char- 
coal is excellent in all cases, especially to use with 
strongly concentrated (or heating) animal manures. 
These, when applied in their natural state to the soil, 
are very apt to injure young roots by the violence 
of their action. When mixed with a divisor, such 
manures are diluted, made less active, and conse- 



MANURES. 97 

quently less likely to be injurious. In composts, 
manures are liable, as has been before stated, to be- 
come burned by the resultant heat of decomposi- 
tion ; this process of combustion is prevented by the 
liberal use of divisors, because, by increasing the 
bulk, the heat, being diffused through a larger mass, 
becomes less intense. The same principle is exhibit- 
ed in the fact that it takes more fire to boil a caul- 
dron of water than a tea-kettlefull. 

3d. Charcoal has much power to arrest the 
passage of mineral matters in solution ; so much so, 
that compost heaps, well supplied with muck, are 
less affected by rains than those not so supplied. 
All composts, however, and all organic manures 
should be kept under cover until spread upon the 
land. 

4th. Charcoal keeps the compost moist, from the 
ease with which it absorbs water, and its ability to 
retain it. 

With these advantages before us, we must see the 
importance of an understanding of the modes for 
obtaining charcoal. Many farmers are so situated 
that they can obtain sufficient quantities of charcoal 
dust. Others have not the same facilities. .Nearly all, 
however, can obtain muck or leaf mould, and to this 
we will now turn our attention. 

MTJCK AND ITS TREATMENT. 

By mucJc, we mean the vegetable deposits of 
swamps and rivers. It consists of decayed organic 



03 MANURES . 

substances, mixed with more or less earth. Its prin- 
cipal constituent is carbon, in different degrees of 
development, which has remained after the decom- 
position of vegetable matter. Muck varies largely 
in its quality according to the amount of carbon 
which it contains, and the completeness of its decom- 
position. The best muck is usually found in compa- 
ratively dry locations, where the water which once 
caused the deposit has been removed. Muck which has 
been long in this condition, is usually better decom- 
posed than that which is saturated with water. The 
muck from swamps, however, may soon be brought 
to the best condition. It should be thrown out if 
possible at least a year before it is required for use, 
and left in small heaps or ridges, exposed to the 
action of the weather, which will assist in pulveriz- 
ing it, while, from having its water removed, its 
decomposition goes on more rapidly. 

After the muck has remained in this condition a 
sufficient length of time, it may be removed to the 
barn-yard and composted with a mixture of lime and 
salt (described on page 99 in the proportion of one 
cord of muck to four bushels of the mixture, or with 
slaked lime, or wood-ashes. At the end of a month 
or more, the muck in the compost will have been re- 
duced to a fine pulverulent mass, the decomposition 
being hastened and made more complete by repeated 
turnings — nearly as valuable as charcoal dust for 
application to animal excrement. When in this 
condition it is called prepared muck, by which name 
it will be designated in the following pages. 



MANURES. 99 

Muck had better not be used immediately after 
being taken from the swamp, as it is then almost 
always sour. Its sourness is due to acids which it 
contains, and these must be rectified by the applica- 
tion of an alkali, or by long exposure to the weather, 
before the muck is suitable for use. 



LIME AND SALT MIXTURE. 

The mixture, lime and salt, used in the decompo- 
sition of muck, is made in the following manner : 

Recipe. — Take three bushels of shell lime, hot 
from the kiln, or as fresh as possible, and slake it 
with water in which one bushel of salt has been dis- 
solved. 

Care must be taken to use only so much water as 
is necessary to dissolve the salt, as it is difficult to 
induce the lime to absorb even so large a quantity. 

In dissolving the salt, it is well to hang it in a 
basket in the upper part of the water, as the salt 
water will immediately settle towards the bottom 
(being heavier), and allow the freshest water to be 
nearest to the salt. In this way the salt may be all 
dissolved, and thus make the brine used to slake the 
lime. It will be necessary to apply the brine at 
intervals of a day or two, and to stir the mass often, 
as the amount of water is too great to be readily ab- 
sorbed. 

This mixture should be made under cover, as, if 
exposed, it would obtain moisture from rain or dew, 
which would prevent the use of all the brine. 



1 00 MANURES. 

Another objection to its exposure to the weather 
is its liability to be washed away by rains. It 
should be at least ten days old before being used, 
and would be improved by an age of three or four 
months, as the chemical changes it undergoes will 
require some time to be completed. 

The character of this mixture is not very clearly 
understood. Its principal constituents are lime, 
carbonic acid, chlorine, and soda. The salt is 
undoubtedly decomposed in part or entirely, and 
various compounds, containing the above substances 
in different proportions and in different forms of 
combination, are formed. Probably the extent of 
the decomposition of the salt and the character of the 
new combinations depend on various circumstances, 
and vary considerably. 

These compounds are much better agents in the 
composition of muck than pure salt and lime. 

When shell lime cannot be obtained, Thomaston, 
or any other very pure lime, will answer ; but care 
must be taken that it do not contain much magnesia. 

LIME. 

Muck may be decomposed by the aid of other 
materials. Lime is very efficient, though not so 
much so as when combined with salt. The action of 
lime, when applied to the muck, depends very much 
on its condition. Air-slaked lime (carbonate of lime) 
has less effect than hydrate of lime (lime simply slaked 
with water), because it is less caustic in its character. 



MANURES. 



POTASH. 



101 



Potash is a very active agent in decomposing 
vegetable matter, and may be used with great ad- 
vantage, especially where the soil which is to be 
manured is deficient in potash. 

Unleached wood-ashes are generally the best source 
from which to obtain this, and from live to twenty- 
five bushels of these mixed with one cord of muck 
will have a capital effect.* 

The sparlings (or refuse) of potash warehouses may 
often be purchased at sufficiently low rates to be used 
for this purpose, and answer an excellent end. They 
may be applied at the rate of from twenty to one 
hundred pounds to each cord of muck. 

By any of the foregoing methods, muck may be 
^prepared for use in composting. 



CHAPTER Y. 

COMPOSTING STABLE MANURE. 

In composting stable manure in the most economical 
manner, the evaporation of the gases which result 
from its decomposition, and the leaching out of the 
ashy (and other) portions which decomposition has 

* Leached ashes will not supply the place of these, as the leach- 
ing has deprived them of most of their potash. 



102 MANURES. 

set free must be avoided, while the mass is kept in 
such condition as to admit of the perfect decomposi- 
tion of the manure. 

Solid manures in their fresh state are of but very lit- 
tle use to plants. It is only as they are decomposed, 
and have their nitrogen turned into ammonia, and 
their other ingredients prepared to be taken up again 
by plants, that they are of much value as fertilizers, 
although there are of course certain advantages 
resulting from their fermentation in the ground, 
while there is no better way to avoid loss than by 
plowing fresh manure directly into the soil. We have 
seen that, if decomposition takes place without 
proper precautions being taken, the most valuable 
parts of the manure would be lost. Nor is it advisa- 
ble, when an immediate effect is wanted, to keep 
manures from decomposing until they are applied to 
the soil, for then they are not immediately ready for 
use, and time is lost. By composting, we aim to 
save everything while we prepare the manures for 
immediate use. 

SHELTER. 

The first consideration in preparing for compost- 
ing is to provide proper shelter. This may be done 
either by means of a shed or by arranging a cellar 
under the stables, or in any other manner that may 
be dictated by circumstances. It is no doubt better 
to have the manure shed enclosed so as to make it an 
effectual protection ; this, however, is not absolutely 
necessary if the roof project far enough over the 



MANURES. 103 

compost to shelter it from the sun's rays and from 
driving rains. 

The importance of some protection of this kind 
is evident from what has already been said, and in- 
deed it is impossible to make an economical use of 
manures without it. The trifling cost of building a 
shed, or preparing a cellar, is amply repaid in the 
benefit resulting from their uses. If an open shed is 
used, care should be taken to so arrange the slope of 
the ground that no surface water can reach the 
manure. 

THE FLOOR. 

The floor or foundation on which to build the 
compost deserves some consideration. It may be of 
plank tightly fitted, a hard bed of clay, or better, a 
cemented surface. Whatever material is used in its 
construction (and stiff clay mixed with water and 
beaten compactly down answers an excellent purpose), 
the floor must have such an inclination as will cause 
it to discharge water only at one point. That is, one 
part of the edge must be lower than the rest of the 
floor, which must be so shaped that water will run 
towards this point from every part of it ; then — the 
floor being water-tight — all the liquids of the com- 
post may be collected in a 

TANK. 

This tank, used to collect the liquids of the manure, 
may be made by sinking a barrel or hogshead (ac- 



104 



MANURES. 



cording to the size of the heap) in the ground at the 
point where it is required, or in any other conveni- 
ent manner. 

In the tank a pump of cheap construction may be 
placed, to raise the liquid to a sufficient height to be 
conveyed by a trough to the centre of the heap, 
and there distributed by means of a perforated board 




Fig. 2. 

a, tank ; b, pump ; c and g, perforated board ; d, muck ; e, ma- 
nure ; /, floor. 

with raised edges, and long enough to reach across 
the heap in any direction. By altering the position 
of this board, the liquid may be carried evenly over 
the whole mass. 



MANURES. 105 

The appearance of the apparatus required for com- 
posting, and the compost laid up, may be better 
shown by the foregoing figure. 

The compost is made by laying on the floor ten or 
twelve inches of muck, and on that a few inches of 
manure, then another heavy layer of muck, and an- 
other of manure, continuing in this manner until the 
heap is raised to the required height, always having 
a thick layer of muck at the top. 

After laying up the heap, the tank should be filled 
with liquid manure from the stables, slops from the 
house, soap-suds, or other water containing fertilizing 
matter, to be pumped over the mass. There should 
be enough of the liquid to saturate the heap and 
filter through to fill the tank once or twice a week, 
at which intervals it should be again pumped up, 
thus continually being passed through the manure. 
This liquid should not be changed, as it contains 
much soluble manure. Should the liquid manures 
named above not be sufficient, the quantity may be 
increased by the use of rain-water. That falling 
during the first ten minutes of a shower is the best, 
as it contains the most ammonia. 

The , effects produced by frequently watering the 
compost constitute one of the greatest advantages of 
this system. 

The soluble portions of the manure are equally 
diffused through every part of the heap. 

Should the heat of fermentation be too great, the 

watering will reduce it. 

When the compost is saturated with water, the 

5* 



106 MANURES. 

air is driven out ; and, as the water subsides, fresh 
air enters and takes its place. The fresh air con- 
tains oxygen, which assists in the decomposition of 
the manure. 

In short, the watering does all the work of fork- 
ing over by hand much better and much more cheaply. 

At the end of a month or more, this compost will 
be ready for use. The layers in the manure will 
have disappeared, the whole mass having become of 
a uniform character, highly fertilizing, and ready to 
be immediately used by plants. - 

It may be applied to the soil, either as a top-dress- 
ing, or otherwise, without fear of loss, as the muck 
will retain all of the gases which would otherwise 
evaporate. 

The cost and trouble of the foregoing system of 
composting are trifling compared with its advantages. 
The quantity of the manure is much increased, and 
its quality improved. The health of the animals is 
secured by the retention of those gases, which, when 
allowed to escape, render impure the air that they 
have to breathe. 

The cleanliness of the stable and yard is much im- 
proved, as the effete matters, which would otherwise 
litter them, are carefully removed to the compost. 

The system of composting described above is the 
most complete that has yet been suggested for mak- 
ing use of solid manures. Many other methods may 
be adopted when circumstances will not admit of 
so much attention. It is a common and excellent 
practice to throw prepared muck into the cellar under 



MANURES. 10 T 

the stables, to be mixed and turned over with the 
manure by swine. In other cases the manures are 
kept in the yard, and are covered with a thin layer 
of muck every morning. The principle which ren- 
ders these systems beneficial is that of the absorbent 
power of charcoal. 

The composting of stable manure, although al- 
ways advantageous, frequently requires more labor, 
and more expensive accommodations than can be 
given to it. There is no doubt that, where proper fa- 
cilities can be obtained for carrying out the foregoing 
directions, they will be found profitable. Those who 
are obliged to use their stable manure with the least 
possible amount of handling, or who cannot procure 
muck or other organic matter to add to it, should at 
least manage to keep it entirely sheltered from the rain 
until it is hauled out on to the land. Manure kept 
under a shed, necessarily loses some ammonia ; but 
the amount of this loss has been found to be very 
small, for the reason that, during the decomposition 
of the straw and coarser vegetable parts, certain 
organic acids and other compounds are produced, 
which combine with or absorb most of the ammonia 
as it is generated. 

The loss of ammonia, and of the soluble constitu- 
ents of the ash, is greater when the decomposition 
takes place without protection from the rain. 

The best plan is, undoubtedly, to have a cellar 
under the stable to receive the manure as soon as 
dropped, and to protect it, as far as possible, from all 
atmospheric influences. 



108 MANUftES. 

For a long time one of the strongest recommenda- 
tions of "book farming" was directed against the 
practice of spreading manure upon the land more 
than a day or two before it could be plowed under. 
But on this point, practice has gained a triumph 
over a crude theory. There is no doubt that manure 
so spread is subject to some waste ; but that which 
is not wasted is so much better incorporated with 
the soil by the water of rains, which distributes its 
soluble parts evenly among all of its particles, that 
the effect produced is better than if the raw manure 
had been immediately plowed under, necessarily 
somewhat irregularly and in spots. In this latter 
case there would be no loss of material, but some 
parts of the soil would receive more than was neces- 
sary, while others would be deprived of any material 
benefit, and the land would be less fertile than if 
every root were sure to find, in every part of the 
soil, its due proportion of the food. Ammonia is 
formed only during decomposition ; and, especially 
during cold weather, there is very little decomposi- 
tion going on in manure which is thinly spread upon 
the surface of the land ; hence the loss from this 
cause is not great. 

In the case of very heavy manuring, especially 
with undecomposed manure on clay land, there is a 
great benefit arising from the fermentation of the 
dung in the soil, — a chemical action producing a 
mechanical effect, — but ordinarily it is at least a ques- 
tion whether it is not best to spread the manure 
on the surface as long as possible before plowing, 



MANURES. 109 

unless in the case of land which is to be plowed in 
the fall for spring crops, when it is well to spread 
the manure after plowing, to be harrowed in in 
the spring. 

This practice is of course not admissible on steep 
hill-sides or other surfaces where the manure would 
be subjected to the danger of being washed away by 
water flowing over the surface in winter or spring. 

Different circumstances necessarily require a dif- 
ferent treatment of manure ; but the following prin- 
ciples are applicable to all cases : 

1. All organic manures are much improved by 
being thoroughly decomposed before being applied 
to the land. 

2. It is always advantageous (though not always 
advisable) that their fermentation take place in the 
compost heap, where they give a part of their value 
to muck or other refuse organic matter, which pre- 
vents all waste of fertilizing gases. 

3. All animal manures should be carefully pro- 
tected against sun, rain, and wind, from the time they 
are dropped until they are spread upon the land. 

4. The solid dung should always be so kept that 
it will absorb the urine. 

5. For the ?necha?iical improvement of the soil, 
raw manure should be deeply mixed with it. 

6. For immediate fertilizing effect, well-rotted 
manure should be applied to, and harrowed in near 
the surface. 



1 10 • MANURES. 



LIQUID MANURE. 

Xiquid manure from animals may, also, be made 
useful by the assistance of prepared muck. Where 
a tank is used in composting, the liquids from the 
stable may all be employed to supply moisture to the 
heap ; but where any system is adopted, not requir- 
ing liquids, the urine may be applied to muck heaps, 
and there allowed to ferment. Fermentation is ne- 
cessary in urine as well as in solid dung, before it is 
very active as a manure, although its decomposition 
is much more rapid than that of the dung. Urine, 
as will be recollected, contains nitrogen and forms 
ammonia on fermentation. 

The urine should never be allowed to stand in 
pools to become mixed with rain-water, nor to run 
to waste ; but should always be immediately ab- 
sorbed either by the dung or by muck, or other refuse 
matter provided for the purpose. 

By referring to the analysis of liquid and solid 
manure in Section V., their relative value may be 
seen. 



CHAPTEE YI. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OP ANIMAL EXCREMENT. 

The manures of different animals are, of course, of 
different value as fertilizers, varying according to 
the food, the age of the animals, etc. 



MANURES. Ill 

Yet the difference is not so great as would be sup- 
posed. The quality of manure depends very much 
more upon the food from which it is made than upon 
the animal by which it is made. Linseed meal or 
cotton-seed meal, which contains much nitrogen, and 
is rich in phosphates, makes manure worth infinitely 
more than that from straw and turnips. Whether 
these articles of food have passed through an ox or 
a hog, makes very little difference ; though, as ex- 
plained below, it does make some difference. 

STABLE MANURE. 

By stable manure we mean, usually, that of the 
horse, and that of horned cattle. The case described 
in Chapter II. (of this Section) was one where the 
animal was not increasing in any of its parts, but 
returned in the form of manure, and otherwise, the 
equivalent of everything eaten. This case is one of 
the most simple kind, and is subject to many modifi- 
cations. 

The growing animal is increasing in size, and as 
he derives his increase from his food, he does not re- 
turn in the form of manure so much as he eats. If 
his bones are growing, he is taking from his food 
phosphate of lime and nitrogenous matter ; conse- 
quently, the manure will be poorer in these • ingre- 
dients. The same may be said of the formation of 
the muscles, in relation to nitrogen. 

The fattening animal, if full grown, makes manure 
which is as good as that from animals that are not 



112 MANURES. 

increasing in size, because the fat is taken from 
those parts of the food which are obtained by plants 
from the atmosphere, and from water (i. e. from the 
substances containing no nitrogen). Fat contains 
no nitrogen, and, consequently, does not lessen the 
amount of this ingredient in the manure. 

Milch Cows use a part of their food for the forma- 
tion of milk, and consequently they produce manure 
of reduced value. 

The solid manure of the horse is better than that 
of the ox, while the liquid manure of the ox is com- 
paratively better than that of the horse. The cause of 
this is, that the horse has less perfect digestive organs 
than the ox, and consequently passes more of the 
valuable parts of his food, in an undigested form, as 
dung ; while the ox, from chewing the cud and hav- 
ing more perfect digestion, turns more of his food in- 
to urine than does the horse. 



RECAPITULATION. 

Full Grown animals not > 
producing milk, and 
full grown animals fat- 
tening 

The Growing of Animals reduces the value of their 
manure, portions of their food being taken to form 
their bodies. 

Milch Cows reduce the value of their manure by 
changing a part of their food into milk. 



► make the best manure. 



MANURES. 113 

The Ox makes poor dung and rich urine.* 
The House makes rich dung and poor urine.* 

NIGHT SOIL. 

The best manure within the reach of the farmer is 
night soil, or human excrement. The manure of 
man consists (as does that of any other animal) of 
those parts of his food which are not retained in the 
increase of his body. If he be growing, his manure 
is poorer, as in the case of the ox ; and it is subject 
to all the other modifications named in the early 
part'of this chapter. His food is usually of a varied 
character, and is rich in nitrogen, the phosphates, 
and other inorganic constituents ; consequently, his 
manure is made valuable by containing large quan- 
tities of these matters. As is the case with the ox, 
the dung contains the undigested food, the secretions 
(or leakings) of the digestive organs, and the insoluble 
parts of the ash of the digested food. The urine, in 
like manner, contains a large proportion of the nitro- 
gen and the soluble inorganic parts of the digested 
food. When we consider how much richer \hefood 
of man is than that of horned cattle, we shall under- 
stand the superior value of his excrement. 

ISTight soil has been used as a manure, for ages, in 
China and Japan ; and herein lies, undoubtedly, the 
great secret of their success in supporting a dense 
population, for almost countless ages, without im- 
poverishing the soil. 

* Comparatively. 



114: MANURES. 

Some have supposed that manuring with night 
soil would give disagreeable properties to plants : 
this is not the case ; their quality is invariably im- 
proved. The color and odor ol the rose are made 
richer and more delicate by the use of the most of- 
fensive night soil as manure. 

It is evident that this is the case from the fact 
that plants have it for their direct object to make 
over and put together the refuse organic matter and 
the gases and the minerals found in nature, for the 
use of animals. If there were no natural means of 
rendering the excrement of animals available to 
plants, the earth must soon be shorn of its fertility, 
as the elements of growth when once consumed 
would be essentially destroyed, and no soil could 
survive the exhaustion. There is no reason why the 
manure of man should be rejected by vegetation 
more than that of any other animal ; and indeed it 
is not, — ample experience has proved that there is 
no better manure in existence. 

A single experiment will suffice to show that 
night soil may be so kept that there shall be no loss 
of its valuable gases, and consequently no offensive 
odor arising from it, while it may be removed and 
applied to crops without unpleasantness. All that is 
necessary to effect this wonderful change in night 
soil, and to turn it from its disagreeable character to 
one entirely inoffensive, is to mix with it a little char- 
coal dust, prepared muck, dry earth, or any other good 
absorbent— thus making what is called poudrette. 
The mode of doing this must depend on circumstances. 



MANURES. " 115 

" Several plans have recently been devised which 
have for their object the improvement of privy ac- 
commodations of detached houses. One of these, 
the * Earth Closet,' of the Rev. Henry Moule, an 
English clergyman, is at once so cheap, so simple, 
and so perfect in its operation, that it should receive 
general .attention. Its action is based on the power 
of soils which contain clay or organic matter (loam 
or mould) to absorb all offensive effluvia. This 
power is so great that not only will a pint of sifted 
and air-dried earth completely deodorize the matters 
of a single evacuation, but if dried in the air after 
each use, the same pint of earth may be used over 
and over again — losing, apparently, none of its 
power of absorption — until it finally becomes as 
powerful a manure as Peruvian guano — although 
entirely inoffensive to the sight and smell." * 

The manure thus made is of the most valuable 
character, and may be used under any circumstances 
with a certainty of obtaining a good crop. 

For an analysis of human manure, see Section V. 

HOG MANURE. 

Hog manure is very valuable, but it must be used 
with care. It is very liable to make cabbages clunip- 
footed, and to induce a disease in turnips called cm- 
bury (or fingers and toes). It is so violent in its 
action that, when applied to crops in a pure state, it 

* From an article on Sewers and Earth Closets, in the Ameri- 
can Agricultural Annual, for 1868, by Geo. E. Waring-, Jr. 



116 MANURES. 

often produces injurious results. The only precau- 
tion necessary is to supply the sty with prepared 
muck, charcoal-dust, leaf-mould, earth, or any ab- 
sorbent in plentiful quantities, often adding fresh 
supplies. The hogs will work this over with the 
manure ; and, when required for use, it will be found 
an excellent fertilizer. The absorbent will have over- 
come its injurious tendency, and it may be safely 
applied to any crop, except cabbages and the smooth- 
leaved turnips — such as the rutabaga. From the 
variety and rich character of the food of this animal, 
his manure is of a superior quality. 

Butchers' hogpen manure is one of the best fer- 
tilizers known. It is made by animals that live 
chiefly on blood and other animal refuse, and is very 
rich in nitrogen and the phos'phates. It should be 
mixed with prepared muck, or its substitute, to pre- 
vent the loss of its ammonia, and as a protection 
against its injurious effect on plants. 

POULTRY-HOUSE MANURE. 

Next in value to night soil, among domestic ma- 
nures, are the excrements of poultry, pigeons, etc. 
Birds live on the nice bits of creation, seeds, insects, 
etc., and they discharge, their solid and liquid excre- 
ments together. Poultry-dung is nearly equal in 
value to Peruvian guano (except that it contains 
more water), and it deserves to be carefully pre- 
served and judiciously used. It is as well worth one 
dollar per bushel as guano is worth seventy-five dol- 
lars a ton. 



MANURES. 117 

Poultry-manure is liable to as much injury from 
evaporation and leaching as is any other manure, 
and equal care should be taken (by the same means) 
to prevent such loss. Good shelter over the roosts, 
and frequent sprinkling with prepared muck or char- 
coal-dust, will be amply repaid by the increased value 
of the manure, and its better action and greater 
durability in the soil. The principle upon which 
Moule's Earth Closet is based may be very effective- 
ly applied to the poultry-house. All that is neces- 
sary is to dig or fork up the earth floor of their lodg- 
ing-room as often as may be necessary (say once a 
week), and to rake it daily so as to mix the fresh 
droppings with the loose earth. In this manner the 
floor of the poultry-house, for a depth of eight or ten 
inches, may be made to absorb the droppings of a 
whole summer so as to entirely prevent offensive* 
smells or disease, while the earth for that depth 
will be worth many times what it has cost. 

The value of this manure should be taken into 
consideration in calculating the profit of keeping 
poultry (as indeed with all other stock). It has been 
observed by a gentleman of much experience, in 
poultry raising, that the yearly manure of a hundred 
fowls applied to previously unmanured land would 
produce extra corn enough to keep them for a year. 
This is probably a large estimate, but it serves to 
show that this fertilizer is very valuable, and also 
that poultry may be kept with great profit, if their 
excrements are properly secured. 



118 MANURES. 

The manure of pigeons has been a favorite fertil- 
izer in some countries for more than 2,000 years. 

Market gardeners in England attach much value 
to rabbit- manure. 

SHEEP MANURE. 

The manure of sheep is less valuable than it would 
be if so large a quantity of the nitrogen and mineral 
parts of the food were not employed in the forma- 
tion of wool. This has an effect on the richness of 
the excrements, but they are still of very great value 
as a fertilizer, and should be protected from loss in 
the same way as stable-manure. 

GUANO. 

Guano as a manure has become world renowned. 
"The worn-out tobacco lands of Virginia, and other 
fields in many parts of the country, which seemed to 
have yielded to the effect of an ignorant course of 
cultivation, and to have sunk to their final repose, 
have in many cases been revived to the production of 
excellent crops, and have had their value multiplied 
many fold by the use of guano. Although an ex- 
cellent manure, it should not cause us to lose sight of 
those valuable materials which exist on almost every 
farm. Every ton of guano imported into the United 
States is an addition to our national wealth, but 
every ton of stable-manure, or poultry-dung, or night 
soil evaporated or carried away in rivers, is equally 
a deduction from our riches. If the imported ma- 
nure is to really benefit us, we must not allow it to 



MANURES. 119 

occasion the neglect and consequent loss of onr do- 
mestic fertilizers. 

The Peruvian guano (which is considered the 
best) is brought from islands off the coast of Peru. 
The birds which frequent these islands live almost 
entirely on fish, and drop their excrements here in 
a climate where rain is unknown, and where, from 
the dryness of the air, there is but little loss sustained 
by the manure. It is brought to this country in 
large quantities, and is an excellent fertilizer, supe- 
rior even to night soil. 

Injudiciously used, Peruvian guano may become 
a curse to a country instead of a blessing. It stimu- 
lates crops to an inordinate growth and causes them, 
on the poorer soils, to seek out the last available atom 
of some mineral which it does not in itself supply 
in sufficient quantity. When this last atom has 
been sold off in the crop, the power of the guano to 
produce a crop, to which that mineral is largely 
necessary, has ceased. It is not the guano, but the 
crop that has exhausted the land. If all its mineral 
constituents had been judiciously returned, the soil 
would not be made poorer, — on the contrary, it 
would be made better by the decomposition of the 
roots left in the soil. The best way to use guano, 
is to compost it with other manures or to mix it 
with fine earth or muck. In either case, its lumps 
should be crushed to powder, so that it may be evenly 
distributed through the soil. 

The composition of various kinds of guano may 
be found in the Section on Analysis. 



120 MANURES. 

CHAPTEE TIL 

OTHER ORGANIC MANURES. 

The number of organic manures is almost countless. 
The most common of these have been described in 
the previous chapters on the excrements of animals. 
The more prominent of the remaining ones will now be 
considered. As a universal rule, it may be stated that 
all organic matter (everything which has had vegeta- 
ble or animal life) is capable of feeding plants. 

DEAD ANIMALS. 

The bodies of animals contain much nitrogen, as 
well as large quantities of the phosphates and other 
inorganic materials required in the growth of plants. 
On their decay, the nitrogen is resolved into a?nmo- 
nia, and the mineral matters become valuable as food 
for the inorganic parts of plants. 

If the decomposition of animal bodies takes place 
in exposed situations, and without proper precautions, 
the ammonia escapes into the atmosphere, and much 
of the mineral portion is leached out by rains. The 
use of absorbents, such as charcoal-dust, prepared 
muck, earth, etc., will entirely prevent the evapora- 
tion, and will in a great measure serve as a protection 
against leaching. 

If a dead horse be cut in pieces and mixed with 
ten loads of muck, the whole mass will, in a single 
season, become a valuable compost. Small animals, 
such as dogs, cats, etc., may be with advantage 



MANURES. 121 

buried by the roots of grape-vines, or trees, or com- 
posted as above. 

BONES. 

The bones of animals contain phosphate of lime 
and gelatine. The gelatine is a nitrogenous sub- 
stance, and produces ammonia on its decomposition. 
This subject will be treated more fully under the 
head of " phosphate of lime " in the chapter on min- 
eral manures, where the treatment of bones is con- 
sidered more directly with reference to the fertilizing 
value of their earthy parts. 

FISH. 

In many localities near the sea-shore large quanti- 
ties of fish are caught and applied directly to the soil. 
These make excellent manure. They contain much 
nitrogen, which renders them strongly ammoniacal 
on decomposition. Their bones consist of phosphate 
and carbonate of lime; and, being naturally soft, they 
decompose in the soil with great facility, and become 
available to plants. The scales of fish contain valu- 
able quantities of nitrogen, etc., all of which are 
highly useful. 

Refuse fishy matters from markets and from the 
house are well worth saving. These and fish caught 
for manure may be made into compost with prepared 
muck, or earth, etc. ; and as they putrefy rapidly, they 
soon become ready for use. They may be added to 
the compost of stable manure with great advantage. 



122 MANURES. 

Fish (like all other nitrogenous manures) should 
never be applied as a top dressing, unless previously 
mixed with a good absorbent of ammonia ; but should, 
when used alone, be immediately plowed under to 
considerable depth, to prevent the evaporation — and 
consequent loss — of their fertilizing gases. 

Within the past few years the manufacture of oil from 
fish has become a very extensive industry, especially 
along the coast of New England. The fish are caught 
in immense quantities and delivered to the factories, 
where they are first cooked by steaming and then 
subjected to very heavy pressure, which removes their 
oil. The solid matter which is left behind, contain- 
ing the bones, scales, and muscular tissues, is run 
through a " picker," and sold for manure. It con- 
tains all of the fish that is of value for this purpose, 
in a very concentrated form, and it is easy of applica- 
tion to the soil. It is now sold for about one-third 
of the value of Peruvian guano, at which price it is 
a much more economical fertilizer. 

WOOLLEN BAGS, ETC. 

Woollen rags, hair, waste of woollen factories, etc., 
contain both nitrogen and phosphate of lime ; and, like 
all other matters containing these ingredients, are 
excellent manures, but they must be used in such a 
way as to prevent the escape of their fertilizing gases. 
They decompose slowly, and are therefore considered 
a lasting manure. Like all lasting manures, how- 
ever, they are slow in their effects, and the most ad- 



MANURES. 123 

vantageous way to use them is to compost them with 
stable manure, or with some other rapidly fermenting 
substance, which will hasten their decomposition and 
render them sooner available. 

Hags, hair, etc., thus treated, will in a short time 
be reduced to such a condition that they may be 
more immediately used by plants instead of lying in 
the soil to be slowly taken up. It is better in all 
cases to have manures act quickly and give an im- 
mediate return for their cost, than to lie for a long 
time in the soil before their influence is felt. 

Old leather should not be thrown away. It de- 
composes very slowly, and consequently is of but 
little value ; but, if put at the roots of young trees, 
it will in time produce appreciable effects. 

Tanners* and curriers' refuse, and all other animal 
offal, including that of the slaughter-house, are well 
worth attention, as they contain more or less of those 
two most important ingredients of manures, nitrogen 
and phosphate of lime. 

It is unnecessary to add that, in common with all 
other animal manures, these substances must be either 
composted, or immediately plowed under the soil. 
Horn piths, and horn shavings, if decomposed in com- 
post with substances which ferment rapidly, make very 
good manure, and are worth fully the price charged 
for them. 

ORGANIC MANURES OF VEGETABLE ORIGIN. 

Muck, the most important of the purely vegeta- 
ble manures, has been already sufficiently described. 



12i MANURES. 

It should be particularly bome in mind that, when 
first taken from the swamp, it is often sour, or cold / 
but that if exposed for a long time to the air, or if 
well treated with lime, unleached ashes, the lime 
and salt mixture, or an}' other alkali, its acids will 
be neutralized (or overcome), and it becomes a good 
application to any soil, except peat or other soils 
already containing large quantities of organic mat- 
ter. 

SPENT TAN-BARK. 

Spent ta?i-barlc, if previously decomposed by the 
use of alkalies, answers all the purposes of prepared 
muck, but is more difficult of decomposition. 

The bark of trees contains a larger proportion of 
earthy matter than the wood, and much of this, 
on the decomposition of the bark, becomes available 
as manure. The chemical effect on the bark, of 
using it in the tanning of leather, is such as to ren- 
der it difficult to be rotted by the ordinary means ; 
but by the use of alkalies it may be reduced to the 
finest condition, and becomes a most excellent ma- 
nure. Unless tan-bark be composted with lime, or 
some other alkali, it may produce injurious effects 
from the tannic acid which it still contains. Alka- 
line substances will neutralize this acid, and prevent 
it from being injurious. 

One great benefit resulting from the use of spent 
tan-bark, is due to its power of absorbing moisture 
from the atmosphere. For this reason it is very val- 



MANURES. 125 

uable for mulching * young trees and plants when 
first set out. 

SAWDUST AND SOOT. 

Sawdust in its natural state is of very little value 
to the land, but when decomposed, as may be clone 
by the same method as was described for tan-bark, 
it is of some importance, on account of the carbon 
that it contains. Its ash, too, which becomes avail- 
able, contains soluble earthy matter, and in this 
way it acts as a direct manure. So far as concerns 
the value of the ash, however, bark is superior to 
sawdust. Sawdust may be partially rotted by mix- 
ing it with strong manure (such as that of the hog- 
pen), while it acts as a divisor, and prevents its too 
rapid action when applied to the soil. Some kinds 
of sawdust, such as that from beech-wood, form acetic 
acid on their decomposition, and these should be treat- 
ed with, at least, a sufficient quantity of lime to cor- 
rect the acid. 

Soot is a good manure. It contains much carbon, 
and has, thus far, all of the beneficial effects of char- 
coal dust. The sulphur, which is one of its consti- 
tuents, not only serves as food for plants, but, from 
its odor, affords a good protection against some in- 
sects. A handful of soot thrown over a melon vine, 
or young cabbage plant, will keep away many in- 
sects. 

Soot contains some ammonia, and as this is in 
the form of a sidphate, it is not volatile, and conse- 
* See the glossary at the end of the book. 



126 MAOTTRES. 

quently does not evaporate when the soot is applied 
as a top dressing, which is the almost universal cus- 
tom. 

GREEN CROPS. 

Green crops, to plough under, are in many places 
largely raised, and are always beneficial. The 
plants most used for this purpose, in this country, are 
clover, buck wh eat, and peas. These plants have 
very long roots, which they send deep in the soil to 
draw up mineral matter for their support. This 
mineral matter is deposited in the plant. The 
leaves and roots receive carbonic acid very largely 
from the air, and from the water in the soil. In this 
manner they obtain their carbon. When the crop is 
turned under the soil, it decomposes, and the car- 
bon, as well as the mineral ingredients obtained 
from the subsoil, are deposited in the surface soil, 
and become of use to succeeding crops. The hol- 
low stalks of the buckwheat and pea help to loosen 
the soil. 

Although green crops are of great benefit, and 
require but little labor, they do require, as usually 
managed, that the use of the land and the expense 
of seeding and cultivation be entirely devoted to the 
advantage of future crops. 

Very nearly the same benefit, especially in the 
case of clover, would result from the roots alone 
of a crop which has been cut for hay and again for 
seed. This at least is the opinion of many who have 
had much experience, and who believe that, by the 
decomposition of the roots only of a heavy crop 



MANURES. 127 

of clover, the soil may be brought to the highest 
state of fertility of which it is capable. The crop- 
ping of the plant causes an increased growth of 
the roots, and these, when ploughed up, and allowed 
to decompose in the soil, constitute an excellent 
manure, acting both chemically and mechanically, 
and permanently increasing the value of the land. 

If the system of cultivation adopted on the farm 
does not admit of the use of green crops, its condi- 
tion may be improved, though more expensively 
and less completely, by the application of swamp 
muck or leaf mould, and by the use of the subsoil 
plough, to loosen the lower soil. Except, however, in 
these comparatively rare cases, where all the land is 
needed for use every year, and where extensive 
manuring is adopted, the liberal use of green crops 
is always to be recommended. 

Before closing this chapter, it may be well to re- 
mark that there are various other fertilizers, such as 
the ammoniacal liquor of gas-houses, soakers' wastes, 
'bleachers' lye, lees of old oil-casks, etc., which we 
have not space to consider at length, but which are 
all valuable as additions to the compost heap, or as 
applications, in a liquid form, to the soil. 

In many cases (when heavy manuring is prac- 
tised) it may be well to apply organic manures to 
the soil in a green state, turn them under, and allow 
them to undergo decomposition in the ground. The 
advantages of this system are, that the heat result- 
ing from the chemical changes, will hasten the 
growth of plants by making the soil warmer ; the 



128 MANURES. 

carbonic acid formed will have a beneficial chemical 
action in the soil, and will be directly presented to 
the roots instead of escaping into the atmosphere ; 
and if the soil be heavy, the decomposing matters 
will tend to loosen it, and leave it more porous. As 
a general rule, however, in ordinary farming, where 
the amount of manure applied is only sufficient for 
the supply of food to the crop, it is undoubtedly bet- 
ter to have it previously decomposed, — cooked as it 
were, for the uses of the plants, — as they can then 
obtain the required amount of nutriment as fast as 
needed. 

ABSORPTION OF MOISTURE. 

It is often convenient to know the relative power 
of different manures to absorb moisture from the at- 
mosphere, especially when we wish to manure lands 
that suffer from drought. The following results are 
given by C. "W. Johnson, in his essay on salt (pp. 8 
and 19). In these experiments the animal manures 
were employed without any admixture of straw. 

PARTS. 

1000 parts of horse-dung, dried in a tempera- 
ture of 100°, absorbed by expo- 
sure for three hours to air saturated 
with moisture, of the temperature of 
62° 145 

1000 parts of cow-clung, under the same cir- 
cumstances, absorbed 130 

1000 parts pig-dung 120 

1000 " sheep " 81 



MANURES. 



129 



1000 


parts 


1000 


it 


1000 


a 


1000 


a 


1000 


a 


1000 


a 


1000 


a 


1000 


a 


1000 


a 


1000 


a 


1000 


u 


1000 


a 


1000 


a 



PARTS. 

pigeon-dung 50 

rich alluvial soil 14 

fresh tanner's bark 115 

putrefied " 145 

refuse marine salt sold as manure. . 49J 

soot 36 

burnt clay 29 

coal-ashes 14 

lime 11 

sediment from salt-pans 10 

crushed rock salt 10 

gypsum 9 

salt 4 



Muck is a most excellent absorbent of moisture, 
when thoroughly decomposed. 

DISTRIBUTION OF MANURES. 

The following table from Johnson on Manures, 
will be found convenient in the distribution of ma- 
nures. 

By its assistance the farmer will know how 
many loads of manure he requires, dividing each 
load into a stated number of heaps, and placing 
them at certain distances. In this manner manure 
may be applied evenly, and calculation may be made 
as to the amount, per acre, which a certain quantity 
will supply. 



6* 



130 



MANURES. 



DISTANCE 

OF 

THE HEAPS. 







1 

538 


3 • 




3* 


do 


395 


4 


do 


303 


4V 


do 


239 


5 


do 


194 


5h 


do 


160 


6 


do 


131 


6^ 


do 


115 


7 


do 


99 


n 


do 


86 


8 


do 


751 


8* 


do 


67 


9 


do 


60 


*H 


do 


53* 


10 


do 


48* 



NUMBER OF HEAPS IN A LOAD. 



269 
168 
151 
120 

97 

80 

67 

57* 

49* 

43 

37f 

33| 

30 

26f 

24* 



179 

132 

101 
79* 
64* 
53* 
44f 
38* 
33 



25* 

22* 

20 

18 

16* 



134 
99] 

75£ 

60 I 

48*j 

40 ! 

33* 

28| 

24f 

21* 

19 

16f 

15 

13* 

12 



108 
79 
60* 
47£ 
38f 
32 
27 
23 
19f 

m 

15f 
13* 
12 
lOf 
9f 







89* 

66 

50* 

39£ 

32* 

26| 

22* 

19 

16* 

14* 

12* 

Hi 

10 
9 

8 



77 
56* 
43* 
34* 

27f 
22f 

19* 

16* 
14 

12* 

lOf 

9^ 

8* 
7f 

7 



67 

49* 

37f 

30 

24* 

20 

16f 

14* 

12* 

lOf 

9* 

8* 

7f 

6f 

6 



9 10 



60 
44 
33* 
26* 
21* 
17f 
15 
12f 
11 
9* 
8£ 
7* 
6f 
6 
5* 



54 

39* 

30* 

24 

19* 

16 

13* 

11* 

10 
8* 
7* 
6f 
6 
5* 



Example 1. — Required the number of loads necessary to ma- 
nure an acre of ground, dividing each load into six heaps, and 
placing them at a distance of 4J- yards from each other. The an- 
swer by the table is 39f. 

Example 2. — A farmer has a field containing 5^ acres, over 
which he wishes to spread 82 loads of dung. Now 82 divided by 
5]fi gives 15 loads per acre ; and by referring to the table, it will 
be seen that the desired object may be accomplished by making 
4 heaps of a load, and placing them 9 yards apart, or by 9 heaps 
at 6 yards, as may be thought advisable. 



CHAPTEE Yin. 



MINERAL MANURES. 

The second class of manures named in the general 
division of the subject, in the early part of this 
section, comprises those of a mineral character. 



MANURES. 131 

These manures have four modes of action when 
applied to the soil. 

1st. They furnish food for the mineral part of 
plants. 

2d. They prepare matters already in the soil for 
assimilation by roots. 

3d. They improve the mechanical condition of the 
soil. 

4th. They absorb ammonia. 

Some of the mineral manures produce in the soil 
only one of these effects, and others are efficient in 
two or more of them. 

The principles to be considered in the use of 
mineral manures are essentially given in the first 
two sections of this book. It may be well, however, 
to repeat them briefly in this connection, and to give 
the reasons why any of these manures are needed, — 
from which we may learn what rules are to be ob- 
served in their application. 

1st. Those which are used as food by plants. It 
will be recollected that the ash left after burning 
plants, and which formed a part of their structures, 
has a certain chemical composition ; that is, it con- 
sists of alkalies, acids, and neutrals. It w T as also 
stated that the ashes of plants of the same kind are 
always of about the same composition, while the 
ashes of different kinds of plants may vary mate- 
rially. Different parts of the same plant too, as we 
learned, are supplied with different kinds of ash. 

For instance, clover , on being burned, leaves an 
ash containing lime, as one of its principal ingre- 



132 MANURES. 

dients, while the ash of potatoes contains more of 
potash than of anything else. 

In the second section, (on soils,) we learned that 
some soils contain everything necessary to make the 
ashes of all plants, and in sufficient quantity to sup- 
ply what is required, while other soils are either 
entirely deficient in one or more ingredients, or con- 
tain so little of them in an available condition, that 
they are unfertile for certain plants.* 

The different requirements of different plants is 
the foundation of the theory of special immuring ; 

* In all cases in which the constituents of the soil are spoken of 
in this book, it should be understood as applying not so much to 
its absolute chemical composition as to the availability of its 
plant-feeding- parts. An atom of potash may be locked up in the 
inside of a pebble, and be of no more use to the roots of a plant 
than if it were a hundred miles away, yet a careful chemical 
analysis would destroy the pebble and weigh its atom of potash. 
The food of plants in the soil must exist in what Liebig calls " a 
state of physical combination," that is, coating the outside of its 
particles ; attached to them by a feeble attraction which is suffi- 
cient to prevent their being washed away by the water of rains, 
but which yields to the feeding action of roots. It is his belief, 
and the opinion seems well founded, that it is only, or chiefly 
from materials so placed, that plants derive their food ; and that 
the constituents of the soil, before they are taken up by roots, 
must be separated from their firmer relations and exposed on 
the surfaces of particles, as above stated. 

In like manner those elements of manures which are taken up 
by the plant are first dissolved in water, from which they are ab- 
sorbed by the particles of the soil, — spread over its interior sur- 
faces, exposed to the action of roots. 

Even the ammonia brought from the atmosphere in falling rain, 
attaches itself in the same way to the interior surfaces of the 
soil. 



MANURES. 133 

which is that on a soil of tolerable fertility we can 
grow large crops of any particular plant by using 
such manures as are chiefly required for its ashes, as 
phosphoric acid for a crop of wheat, for instance, 
or potash for potatoes or tobacco. 

As a universal rule, it may be stated that to ren- 
der a soil fertile for any particular plant, we must 
supply it (unless it already contains them) with those 
matters which are necessary to make the ash of that 
plant ; and, if we would render it capable of pro- 
ducing all kinds of plants, it must be furnished with 
the materials required in the formation of all hinds 
of vegetable ashes. 

To carry out this system, however, with much 
nicety or certainty, would require a more thorough 
knowledge of the composition of the soil and of the 
feeding of plants than we yet possess. The only 
safe rule is, by the use of manures and of thorough cul- 
tivation, to make the soil fertile for all crops ; and 
then to keep it fertile by the return of all mineral 
matters removed in its produce. 

A long acquaintance with any field will show 
its strong and its weak points, and the greatest skill 
of the farmer should be applied to strengthening its 
weaker ones and preventing its stronger ones from 
becoming weaker. In this way the soil may be raised 
to its highest state of fertility, and be fully maintained 
in its productive powers. 

2d. Those manures which render available the 
matters already contained in the soil. 

Silicic acid, (or sand,) it will be recollected, exists 



131 MANURES. 

in all soils ; but, in its pure state, is not capable of 
being dissolved, and therefore cannot be used by 
plants. The alkalies (as has been stated) have the 
power of combining with it, making compounds, which 
are called silicates. These are readily dissolved by 
water, and are available in vegetable growth. Now, 
if a soil is deficient in these soluble silicates, it is well 
known that grain, etc., grown on it, not being able 
to obtain the material which gives them strength, 
will fall down or lodge; but, if such measures 
be taken as will render the sand soluble, the other 
conditions of fertility being present, the straw will be 
strong and healthy. Alkalies used for this purpose, 
come under the head of those manures which de- 
velop the natural resources of the soil. 

Again, much of the mineral matter in the soil is 
combined within particles, and is therefore out of the 
reach of roots. Lime, among other things, has the 
effect of causing these particles to crumble and ex- 
pose their constituents to the demand of roots. There- 
fore, lime has for one of its offices the development 
of the fertilizing ingredients of the soil. 

3d. Those manures which improve the mechanical 
condition of the soil. 

The alkalies, in combining with sand, commence 
their action on the surfaces of the particles, and 
roughen them — rust them, as it were. This roughen- 
ing of particles of some soils prevents them from 
moving among each other as easily as they do when 
they are smooth, and thus keeps the ground from being 
compacted by heavy rains, as it is liable to be in its 



MANURES. 135 

natural condition. In this way, the mechanical tex- 
ture of the soil is improved. 

It has just been said that lime causes the pulveriza- 
tion of the particles of the soil ; and thus, by making 
it finer, it improves its mechanical condition. 

Some mineral manures, such as plaster and salt, 
have the power of absorbing moisture from the at- 
mosphere ; and this is a mechanical improvement to 
dry soils. 

4th. Those mineral manures which have the 
power of absorbing ammonia. 

Plaster, chloride of lime, alumina (clay), etc., are 
large absorbents of ammonia, whether arising from 
the fermentation of animal manures or washed down 
from the atmosphere by rains. 

Having now explained the reasons why mineral 
manures are necessary, and the manner in which 
they produce their effects, we will proceed to examine 
the various deficiencies of soils and the character of 
various kinds of this class of fertilizers. 



CHAPTEK IX. 

DEFICIENCIES OF SOILS, MEANS OF RESTORATION, ETC. 

As will be seen by referring to the analyses of soils 
on p. 63, they may be deficient in certain ingre- 
dients, which it is the object of mineral manures to 
supply. These we will take up in order, and endea- 



136 MANURES. 

vor to show in a simple manner the best means of 
managing them in practical farming. 

ALKALIES. 
POTASH. 

Potash is often deficient in the soil. Its de- 
ficiency may have been caused in two ways. Either 
it may not have existed largely in the rock from 
which the soil was formed, and consequently is 
equally absent from the soil itself, or it may have 
once been present in sufficient quantities, and been 
carried away in crops, without being returned to the 
soil in the form of manure, until too little remains in 
an available form for the requirements of fertility. 

In either case the deficiency must be made up ; it 
may be supplied by the farmer in various ways. 
Potash, as well as all the other mineral manures, is 
contained in the excrements of animals, but not (as 
is also the case with the others) in sufficient quantities 
to restore the proper balance to soils where it is 
largely deficient, nor even to make up for what is 
yearly removed with each crop, unless that crop (or 
its equivalent) has been fed to such animals as 
return all of the fertilizing constituents of their food 
in the form of manure, and this to be all carefully 
preserved and applied to the soil. In all other cases, 
it is necessary to apply more potash than is contain- 
ed in the excrements of the animals of the farm. 

Wood ashes is generally the most available source 



MANURES. 137 

from which to obtain this alkali. The ashes of all 
kinds of wood contain potash (more or less, according 
to the kind — see analyses. Section Y.) If the ashes 
are leached, much of the potash is removed; and 
hence, for the purpose of supplying it, they are less 
valuable than unleached ashes. The latter may be 
made into compost with muck, as directed in a pre- 
vious chapter, or applied directly to the soil. In 
either case the potash is available directly to the 
plant, or is capable of uniting with the silica in the 
soil to form silicate of potash. Leached ashes con- 
tain too little potash to be valuable in the compost, 
but, from their imperfect leaching, they do contain 
enough to make them valuable as manure. Neither 
potash nor any other alkali should ever be applied to 
animal manures unless in compost with an absorbent, 
as they cause the ammonia to be thrown off and lost. 

Potash sparlings, or the refuse of potash ware- 
houses, is an excellent manure for lands deficient in 
this constituent. 

Feldspar, kaolin, and other minerals containing 
potash, are, in some localities, to be obtained in suf- 
ficient quantities to be used for manurial purposes. 

Within a comparatively few years, a new fer- 
tilizer — of great value to all regions within carrying 
distance of its place of deposit — has been brought 
to the notice of farmers near the seaboard. This is 
the Green Sand Marl of New Jersey, which under- 
lies a wide belt extending from the Atlantic Ocean to 
the Delaware River, having an area of about 900 
square miles. It is very largely used in South Jersey, 



138 MANURES. 

where it has given great value to land that was pre- 
viously not fit for cultivation. Quite recently, com- 
panies have been formed for its shipment to other 
places near the coast, and it promises to become 
of great importance wherever it can be cheaply 
procured. 

An analysis of this manure is given in Section V 

SODA. 

Soda, the requirement of which is occasioned by 
the same causes as create a deficiency of potash, 
and all of the other ingredients of vegetable ashes, 
may be very readily supplied by the use of common 
salt (chloride of sodium), which is about one-half 
sodium (the base of soda). The best way to use 
salt is in the lime and salt mixture, previously 
described, or as a direct application to the soil. If 
too much salt be given to the soil it will kill any 
plant. In small quantities, however, it is highly bene- 
ficial, and if six bushels per acre be sown broadcast 
over the land, to be carried in by rains and dews, it 
will not only destroy many insects (grubs and worms), 
but will prove an excellent manure. Salt acts direct- 
ly in the nutrition of plants, as a source of necessary 
chlorine and soda. There is little doubt, however, 
that its chief value as a manure in most instances arises 
from the fact that it renders other plant foods more 
soluble, and assists in preparing them for use. Salt, 
even in quantities large enough to denude the soil of 
all vegetation, is never permanently injurious. After 



MANURES. 139 

a time it seems to have the effect of increasing 
fertility. One peck of salt in each cord of compost 
will not only hasten the decomposition of the ma- 
nures, but will kill seeds and all grubs — a very desira- 
ble effect. While small quantities of salt in a com- 
post heap are beneficial, too much (as when applied 
to the soil) is positively injurious, as it arrests de- 
composition, fairly pickles the manures, and prevents 
them from rotting. 

For asparagus, which is a marine plant, salt is an 
excellent manure, and may be applied in almost un- 
limited quantities, while the plants are growing • if 
used after they have gone to top, it is injurious. 
Salt has been applied to asparagus beds in such 
quantities as to completely cover them, and with 
apparent benefit to the plants. Of course large doses 
of salt kill all weeds, and thus save labor, and avoid 
the injury to the asparagus buds which would result 
from their removal by hoeing. Salt may be used 
advantageously in any of the foregoing manners, but 
should always be applied with care. For ordinary 
farm purposes, it is undoubtedly most profitable to 
use the salt with lime, and make it perform the 
double duty of assisting in the decomposition of 
vegetable matter, and fertilizing the soil. 

Soda unites with the silica in the soil, and forms 
the valuable silicate of soda. 

Nitrate of soda, or cubical nitre, which is found in 
South America, is composed of soda and nitric acid. 
It furnishes both soda and nitrogen to plants, and is 
an excellent manure. 



140 MANURES. 



LIME. 



The subject of lime is one of most vital impor- 
tance to the farmer ; indeed, so varied are its modes 
of action and its effects, that some writers have given 
it credit for everything good in the way of farming, 
and have gone so far as to say that all permanent 
improvement of agriculture must depend on the use 
of lime. Although this is far in excess of the truth 
(as lime cannot plough, nor drain, nor supply anything 
but lime to the soil), its many beneficial effects de- 
mand for it the closest attention. 

As food for plants, lime is of considerable impor- 
tance. All plants contain it — some of them in 
large quantities. It is an important constituent of 
straw, meadow hay, leaves of fruit-trees, peas, beans, 
and turnips. It constitutes more than one-third of 
the ash of red clover. Most soils contain lime 
enough for the use of plants ; in others it is deficient, 
and must be supplied artificially before they can pro- 
duce good crops of those plants of which lime is an 
important ingredient. The amount required for the 
mere feeding of plants is not large (much less than one 
per cent.), but lime is often necessary for other pur- 
poses ; and setting aside, for the present, its feeding 
action, we will examine its various effects on the 
mechanical and chemical condition of the soil. 

1. It corrects acidity (sourness). 

% It hastens the decomposition of the organic 
matter in the soil. 



MANURES. 141 

3. It causes the mineral particles of the soil to 
crumble. 

4. By producing the above effects, it prepares the 
constituents of the soil for assimilation by plants. 

5. It is said to exhaust the soil ; but as it does so 
through its beneficial action in producing larger 
crops, and only in this way, it is only necessary to 
return to the soil the other earthy ingredients that 
the larger crops remove from it. 

1. The decomposition of organic matter in the soil, 
especially if too wet, often produces acids which 
make the land sour, and cause it to produce sorrel 
and other weeds, and which interfere with the 
healthy growth of crops. Lime is an alkali, and if 
applied to soils suffering from sourness, it will unite 
with the acids, and neutralize them, so that they will 
no longer be injurious. 

2. We have before stated that lime is a decompo- 
sing agent, and hastens the rotting of muck and 
other organic matter. It has the same effect on the 
organic parts of the soil, and causes them to be re- 
solved into the gases and minerals of which they are 
formed. It has this effect, especially, on organic 
matters containing nitrogen, causing them to pro- 
duce ammonia ; consequently, it liberates this gas 
from the animal manures in the soil. 

3. Yarious earthy compounds in the soil are so 
affected by lime that they lose their power of holding 
together, and crumble, or are reduced to finer par- 
ticles, while some of their constituents are ren- 
dered soluble. This crumbling effect improves the 



142 MANURES. 

mechanical as well as the chemical condition of the 
soil. 

4. We are now enabled to see how lime prepares 
the constituents of the soil for the use of plants. 

By its action on the roots, buried stubble, and other 
organic matter in the soil, it causes them to be decom- 
posed, and to give up their constituents for the use 
of roots. In this manner the organic matter is 
prepared for use more rapidly than it would be, if 
there were no lime present to hasten its decomposi- 
tion. 

By the decomposing action of lime on the mineral 
parts of the soil (3), they also are placed more rapidly 
in a useful condition than would be the case, if their 
preparation depended on the slow action of atmo- 
spheric influences. 

Thus we see that lime, aside from its use directly 
as food for plants, exerts a beneficial influence on 
both the organic and inorganic parts of the soil. 

5. Many farmers assert that lime exhausts the soil. 
If we examine the manner in which it does so, we 

shall see that this is no argument against its use. 

It exhausts the organic parts of the soil by decom- 
posing them, and resolving them into the gases and 
minerals of which they are composed. The gases 
arising from the organic matter cannot escape ; be- 
cause there is in all arable soils a sufficient amount 
of clay and carbonaceous matter present to cause 
these gases to be retained until required by the roots 
of plants. Hence, although the organic matter of 
manure and vegetable substances may be altered in 



MANUEES. 143 

form by the use of lime, it can escape (except in 
very poor soils) only as it is taken np by roots to feed 
the crop, and snch exhaustion is certainly profitable? 
and, so far as the organic parts are concerned, the 
fertility of the soil will be fully maintained by the 
decomposition of new roots and of organic manures. 

The only way in which lime can exhaust the earthy 
parts of the soil is, by altering their condition, so that 
plants can use them more readily. That is, it exposes 
it to the action of roots. We have seen that fertili- 
zing matter cannot be leached out of a good soil, in 
any material quantity, nor can it be carried down to 
any considerable depth. Hence, there can be no 
loss in this direction ; and, as mineral matter 
cannot evaporate from the soil, the only way 
in which it can escape is through the structure of 
plants. 

If lime is applied to the soil, and increases the 
amount of crops grown by preparing for use a larger 
supply of earthy matter, of course, the removal of 
earthy substances from the soil will be more rapid 
than when only a small crop is grown, and the soil 
will be sooner exhausted, — not by the lime, but by 
the plants. In order to make up for this exhaustion 
it is necessary that a sufficient amount of inorganic 
matter be supplied to compensate for the increased 
quantity taken away by plants. 

Thus we see that it is hardly fair to accuse the 
lime of exhausting the soil, when it only improves its 
character, and increases the yield. It is the crop 
that takes away the fertility of the soil (the same as 



144 MAJSTUKES. 

would be the case if no lime were used, only faster, 
because the crop is larger), and in all judicious culti- 
vation this loss will be fully compensated by the 
application of manures, thereby preventing the ex- 
haustion of the soil. 

Kind of lime to he used. The first consideration 
in procuring lime for manuring land, is to select that 
which contains but little, if any, magnesia. Nearly 
all stone lime contains more or less of this, but some 
kinds contain more than others. When magnesia 
is applied to the soil in too large quantities, it is 
positively injurious to plants, and care is necessary 
in making selection. As a general rule, it may be 
stated, that the best plastering lime makes the best 
manure. Such kinds only should be used as are 
known from experiment not to be injurious. 

Shell lime is undoubtedly the best of all, for it 
contains no magnesia, and it does contain a small 
quantity of phosphate of lime. In the vicinity of 
the sea-coast, and near the lines of railroads, oyster 
shells, clam shells, etc., can be cheaply procured. 
These may be prepared for use in the same manner 
as stone lime. 

The preparation of the lime is done by first burn- 
ing and then slaking, or by putting it directly on 
the land, in an unslaked condition, after its having 
been burned. Shells are sometimes ground, and 
used without burning ; this is hardly advisable, as 
they cannot be made so fine as by burning and sla- 
king. As was stated in the first section of this book, 
lime usually exists in nature, in the form of carbo- 



MANURES. 145 

nate of lime, as limestone, chalk, or marble (being- 
lime and carbonic acid combined), and when this is 
burned the carbonic acid is thrown off, leaving the 
lime in a pure or caustic form. This is called burn- 
ed lime, quick-lime, lime-shells, hot lime, etc. If 
the proper quantity of water be poured on it, it is 
immediately taken up by the lime, which falls into 
a dry powder, called slaked lime. If quick-lime were 
left exposed to the weather it would absorb moisture 
from the atmosphere, and become what is termed 
air-slaked. 

When slaked lime (consisting of lime and water) 
is exposed to the atmosphere, it absorbs carbonic acid, 
and becomes carbonate of lime again ; but it is now 
in the form of a very fine powder, and is much more 
useful than when in the stone, or even when finely 
ground. 

If quick-lime is applied directly to the soil, it 
absorbs first moisture, and then carbonic acid, becom- 
ing finally a powdered carbonate of lime. 

One ton of carbonate of lime contains 11 J cwt. 
of lime ; the remainder is carbonic acid. One ton 
of slaked lime contains about 15 cwt. of lime ; the 
remainder is water. 

Hence we see that lime should be burned, and not 
slaked, before being transported, as it would be un- 
profitable to transport the large quantity of carbonic 
acid and water contained in carbonate of lime and 
slaked lime. The quick-lime may be slaked and 
carbonated after reaching its destination, either be- 
fore or after being applied to the land. 

7 



146 MANURES. 

As has been before stated, much is gained by sla- 
king lime with salt water. Indeed, in many cases it 
will be found profitable to use all lime in this way. 
Where a direct action on the inorganic matters 
contained in the soil is desired, it may be well to ap- 
ply the lime directly in the form of quick-lime ; but, 
where the decomposition of the vegetable and animal 
constituents of the soil is desired, the correction of 
sourness, or the supplying of lime to the crop, the 
mixture with salt would be advisable. 

The amount of lime required by plants is, as was 
before observed, usually small compared with the 
whole amount contained in the soil ; still it is not un- 
important. 

25 bus. of wheat contain about 
25 " barley " 

25 " oats " 

2 tons of turnips " 

2 " potatoes 



it 



2 " red clover " 



2 " red grass 



a 



OF LIME. 


13 


lbs. 


10i 


it 


11 


a 


12 


a 


5 


a 


77 


a 


30 


u * 



The amount of lime required at each application, 
and the frequency of those applications, must depend 
on the chemical and mechanical condition of the soil. 
No exact rule can be given, but probably the custom 
of each district — regulated by long experience — is 
the best guide. 

Lime sinks in the soil; and therefore, when 

* The straw producing the grain, and the turnip and potato 
tops, contain more lime than the grain and roots. 



MANURES. 147 

used alone, should always be applied as a top dressing 
to be carried into the soil by rains. The tendency of 
lime to settle is so great that, when cutting drains, 
it may often be observed in a whitish streak on the 
top of the subsoil. After heavy doses of lime have 
been given to the soil, and have settled so as to have 
apparently ceased from their action, they may be 
brought up and mixed with the soil by deeper plowing. 
Lime should never be mixed with animal manures, 
unless in compost with muck or some other good 
absorbent, as it causes the escape of their ammonia. 

PLASTER OF PAPJS. 

Plaster of Paris or Gypsum (sulphate of lime) 
is composed of sulphuric acid and lime in combina- 
tion. 

It is a constituent of many plants. It also fur- 
nishes them with sulphuric acid, and with the sulphur 
of which a small quantity is contained in seeds, etc. 

It is an excellent absorbent of ammonia, and is 
very useful to sprinkle in stables, poultry houses, 
pig-styes, and privies, where it absorbs the escap- 
ing gases, saving them for the use of plants, and 
purifying the air — rendering stables, etc., more 
healthy than when not so supplied. 

CHLORIDE OP LIME. 

Chloride of lime contains lime and chlorine. It 
furnishes both of these constituents to plants, and is 



148 MANURES. 

an excellent absorbent of ammonia and other gases 
arising from decomposition — hence its usefulness in 
destroying bad odors, and in preserving fertilizing 
matters for tire use of crops. 

It may be used like plaster, or in the decomposi- 
tion of organic matters, where it not only hastens 
decay, but absorbs and retains the escaping gases. 

Lime in combination with phosphoric acid forms 
the valuable phosphate of lime, of which so large a 
portion of the ash of grain, and the bones of animals, 
is formed. This will be spoken of more at length 
under the head of " phosphoric acid." 

MAGNESIA. 

Magnesia is a constituent of vegetable ashes, and 
is almost always present in the soil in sufficient 
quantities. 

ACIDS. 
SULPHURIC ACID. 

Sulphuric acid is a very important constituent 
of vegetable ashes. It is sometimes deficient in the 
soil, particularly where potatoes have been long culti- 
vated. One of the reasons why plaster (sulphate of 
lime) is so beneficial to the potato crop is probably 
that it supplies it with sulphuric acid. 

Sulphuric acid is commonly known by the name 
of oil vitriol, and may be purchased for agricultural 
purposes at a low price. It may be added in a very 



MANURES. 149 

dilute form (weakened by mixing it with a large 
quantity of water) to the compost heap, where it will 
change the ammonia to a sulphate as soon as formed, 
and thus prevent its loss, as the sulphate of ammonia 
is not volatile ; and, being soluble in water, is useful 
to plants. Some idea of the value of this compound 
may be formed from the fact that manufacturers of 
manures pay a high price for sulphate of ammonia, 
to insure the success of their fertilizers. Notwith- 
standing this, many farmers persist in throwing away 
hundreds of pounds of ammonia every year, as a tax 
for their ignorance (or negligence), while a small tax 
in money — not more valuable nor more necessary to 
their success — for the support of common schools, 
and the better education of the young, is too often 
unwillingly paid. 

If a tumbler full of sulphuric acid (costing a few 
cents) be thrown into the tank of the compost heap 
once a month, the benefit to the manure would be 
very great. 

Care is necessary that too much sulphuric acid be 
not used, as it would prevent the proper decomposi- 
tion of the manure. 

In many instances it will be found profitable to 
use sulphuric acid in the manufacture of super- 
phosphate of lime (as directed under the head of 
"phosphoric acid"), thus making it perform the 
double purpose of preparing an available form of 
phosphate, and of supplying sulphur and sulphuric 
acid to the plant. 



150 MANURES. 

PHOSPHORIC ACID. 

We come now to the consideration of one of the 
most important of all subjects connected with agri- 
culture. 

Phosphoric acid, which forms about one-half of 
the ashes of wheat, rye, corn, buck-wheat, and oats ; 
nearly the same proportion of those of barley, peas, 
beans, and linseed ; an important part of the ashes 
of potatoes and turnips ; one-quarter of the ash 
of milk, and a very large proportion of the bones of 
animals, often exists in the soil in the proportion of 
only about one or two pounds in a thousand, and 
but a very small part even of this amount is in a con- 
dition to be taken up by roots. The cultivation of 
our whole country has been such, as to take away 
the phosphoric acid from the soil without returning 
it, except in very minute quantities. Every hundred 
bushels of wheat sold contains (and removes perma- 
nently from the soil) about sixty pounds of phospho- 
ric acid. Other grains, as well as the root crops and 
grasses, remove, likewise, a large quantity of it. It 
has been said by a contemporary writer, that for each 
cow kept on a pasture through the summer, there is 
carried off in veal, butter, and cheese, not less than 
fifty lbs. of phosphate of lime (bone-earth) on an 
average. This would be one thousand lbs. for twenty 
cows ; and it shows clearly why old dairy pastures 
become so exhausted of this substance, that they will 
often no longer produce those nutritious grasses 
which are favorable to butter and cheese making. 



MANURES. 151 

That this removal of one of the most valuable con- 
stituents of the soil has been the cause of more ex- 
haustion of farms, and more emigration, in search 
of fertile districts, than any other single effect of 
injudicious farming, is a fact which multiplied in- 
stances most clearly prove. 

It is stated that the Genesee and Mohawk valleys, 
which once produced an average of thirty-five or 
forty bushels of wheat per acre, have since been 
reduced, in their average production, less than twen- 
ty bushels. Hundreds of similar cases might be 
stated ; and in a large majority of these, could the 
cause of the impoverishment be ascertained, it would 
be found to be the removal of the phosphoric acid 
from the soil. 

The evident tendency of cultivation being to con- 
tinue this ruinous system, and to prey upon the vital 
strength of the country, it is necessary to take such 
measures as will arrest the outflow of this valuable 
material. This can never be fully accomplished 
until the laws which regulate the nutrition of plants 
are generally understood and appreciated by the 
people at large. The enormous waste of the most 
valuable manures, taking place not only in every 
city, but about every residence in the land, can only 
be arrested when the importance of restoring to the 
soil a full equivalent for what is taken from it is 
universally realized. China and Japan, the most 
densely peopled countries in the world, have been 
cultivated for thousands of years with no diminution 
of their fertility. Japan is about as large and about 



152 MA^UBES. 

as densely peopled as Great Britain, yet while Great 
Britain imports immense quantities of grain, guano, 
bones, and other fertilizers, and pours its immense 
volumes of manure into the sea, Japan neither 
wastes nor imports. The bread of its people is raised 
on its fields, which have been cultivated for un- 
counted ages, while every scrap of fertilizing matter 
is saved with scrupulous care. 

It is true that the processes by which manure is 
saved and applied in China and Japan are not nice, 
but it is saved, nevertheless, and the fact that our 
chemical knowledge enables us to accomplish the 
same result in an inoffensive manner, should make 
us all the more earnest in mending our ways. 

Many suppose that soils which produce good crops, 
year after year, are inexhaustible, but time invariably 
proves the contrary. They may possess a suffi- 
ciently large stock of phosphoric acid, and other plant 
constituents, to last a long time, but when that stock 
becomes so reduced that there is not enough left for 
the uses of full crops, the productive power of the 
soil will yearly decrease, until it becomes worthless. 
It may last a long time— a century, or even more — 
but as long as the system is to remove everything, 
and return nothing, the fate of the most fertile soil 
is certain. 

As has been stated already, the constituent of the 
soil which is most likely to become deficient is phos- 
phoric acid. One principal source from which this 
can be obtained is found in the bones of animals. 

These contain a large proportion of phosphate of 



MANURES. 153 

lime. They are the receptacles which collect nearly 
all of the phosphates in crops which are fed to ani- 
mals, and are not returned in their excrements. For 
the grain, etc., sent out of the country, there is no 
way to be repaid except by the importation of this 
material ; but nearly all that is fed to animals may, 
if a proper use be made of their excrement, and of 
their bones after death, be returned to the soil. With 
the treatment of animal excrements we are already 
familiar, and we will now turn our attention to the 
subject of 

BONES. 

Bones consist, when dried, of about one-third or- 
ganic matter, and two-thirds earthy matter. 

The organic matter consists chiefly of gelatine — a 
compound containing nitrogen. 

The earthy part is chiefly phosphate of lime. 

Hence we see that bones are excellent, both as or- 
ganic and as mineral manure. The organic part, con- 
taining nitrogen, forms ammonia, and the inorganic 
part supplies the much-needed phosphoric acid to the 
soil. 

Liebig says that, as a producer of ammonia, 100 
lbs. of dry bones are equivalent to 250 lbs. of human 
urine. 

Bones are applied to the soil in almost every con- 
ceivable form. Whole hones are often used in very 
large quantities ; their action, however, is extremely 
slow, and it is never advisable to use them in this 
form. 



154 MANUBES. 

Ten bushels of bones, finely ground, will produce 
larger results, during the ten years after application, 
than would one hundred bushels merely broken ; not 
because the dust contains more fertilizing matter than 
the whole bones, but because that which it does con- 
tain is in a much more available condition. It fer- 
ments readily, and produces ammonia, while the 
ashy parts are exposed to the action of roots. 

It is a rule which is applicable to all manures, that 
the more finely they are pulverized or divided, the 
more valuable they become. Not only do they ex- 
pose much more surface to the feeding action of 
roots, but from their fine division they can be much 
more evenly distributed through the soil. If it is 
true, as seems probable, that the absorptive power 
of fertile soils is so strong as to prevent dissolved 
plant food from being carried beyond the point with 
which it first comes in contact, until the soil about 
that point has taken up all that it is capable of hold- 
ing, then the more widely we spread a manure before 
it is dissolved, the more uniformly rich will be the 
soil. By sowing coarsely crushed bones, we fertilize 
the soil in spots. By crushing each lump we not 
only make all of its constituents immediately availa- 
ble, but we make it reach every part of the surface 
between the spots above referred to. Even Peruvian 
guano, soluble as it is in water, is much more effec- 
tive when finely ground before being spread upon 
the land. 

Bone-hlach. If bones are burned in retorts, or 
otherwise protected from the atmosphere, their or- 



MANURES. 155 

ganic matter will all be driven off except the carbon, 
which not being supplied with oxygen cannot escape. 
In this form bones are called ivory black, or bone 
black/ and they contain all of the earthy matter 
and carbon of the bones. The nitrogen having been 
expelled, it can make no ammonia ; and thus far the 
original value of bones is reduced by burning — that 
is, a ton of bones contains more fertilizing matter 
before, than after, burning. This means of pulveriz- 
ing bones is not to be recommended for the use of 
farmers, who should not lose the ammonia forming a 
part of bones, more than that of other manure. 

Composting bones with ashes is a good means of 
securing their decomposition. They should be placed 
in a water-tight vessel (such as a cask) ; first, three 
or four inches of bones, then the same quantity of 
strong unreached wood ashes, continuing these alter- 
nate layers until the cask is full, and keeping them 
always wet. If they become too dry they will throw 
off an offensive odor, accompanied by the escape of 
ammonia, and consequent loss of value. In about 
one year, the whole mass of bones (except, perhaps, 
those at the top) will be softened, so that they may 
be easily crushed, and they are in a good condition 
for application to the land. The ashes are, in them- 
selves, valuable, and this compost is excellent for 
many crops, particularly for Indian corn. A little 
dilute sulphuric acid, occasionally sprinkled on the 
upper part of the matter in the cask, will prevent 
the escape of the ammonia. 

Boiling bones under pressure, whereby their gela- 



150 MA a IK IS. 

tine is dissolved away, and the earthy matter left 
in an available condition, from its softness, is a very 
good way of rendering them useful; but it requires 
the use of a steam boiler, and other expensive appa- 
ral us. 

SUPER-PIIOSPIIATE OF LIME. 

Simper-phosphate of lime is made by treating phos- 
phate of lime, or the ashes of bones, with sulphuric 
acid. 

Phosphate of lime, as it exists in 1 joins, consists 
of one equivalent of phosphoric acid and three equi- 
valents of lime. 

The word " equivalent " is here used to represent 
what in chemistry is known as the combining pro- 
portion of each element of a compound body — that 
is, one pound of one substance combines with one 
and one-half pounds of another, and these propor- 
tions are invariable. 

In bone earth, or phosphate of lime, one equiva- 
lent, or 72 lbs. of phosphoric acid combines with three 
equivalents (of 28 lbs. each), or 84 lbs. of lime. 
Now, by adding to this compound one equivalent 
(or 40 lbs.) of sulphuric acid, we cause one equiva- 
lent (28 lbs.) of the lime to be taken away, leaving 
the 72 lbs. of phosphoric acid combined with only 
56 lbs. of lime. By using two equivalents of sul- 
phuric acid (or 80 lbs.) we cause the removal or 
56 lbs. of lime, leaving only 28 lbs. combined witli 
the 72 lbs. of phosphoric acid. This is super-phos- 
phate of lime, which is readily soluble in water. It 



MANURES. 157 

is united with 80 lbs. of sulphuric acid and 56 lbs. 
of lime in combination with each other, forming 
136 lbs. of sulphate of lime, or plaster-of-paris. 
The whole compound contains : 

Phosphoric acid.' 72 lbs. 

Sulphuric acid 80 " 

Lime 84 " 

In all 236 " 

— or, 25-j 1 ^ per cent, of phosphoric acid. 

The phosphoric acid, now in combination with 
only one equivalent of lime, is readily dissolved in 
water, and will be evenly distributed in the soil ; but 
it will take the earliest opportunity to combine with 
two more equivalents of lime in the soil, and will 
again become insoluble. It may well be asked, 
What is the advantage of making it soluble if it is 
so soon again to become insoluble ? 

The answer to this question is clearly stated in 
the following quotation from Prof. S. "W. Johnson's 
Essays on Manures : — 

" This white cloud is precipitated bone-phosphate 
of lime, and does not essentially differ from the 
original bone-phosphate, except that it is inconceiv- 
ably finer than can be obtained by any mechanical 
means. The particles of the finest bone-dust will 
not average smaller than one-hundredth of an inch, 
while those of the precipitated phosphate are not 
more than one twenty-thousandth of an inch in di- 
ameter. Since the particles of the precipitated phos- 
phate are so very much smaller than those of the 



15 S MANURES. 

finest bone-dust, we can understand that their action 
as a manure would be correspondingly more rapid." 

In saying that the phosphate of lime is insoluble, 
it is meant that it is insoluble in pure water. Water 
which contains either carbonic acid, ammonia, or 
common salt (and all soil water contains one or 
more of these), has the power of dissolving it, and 
making it available to roots. The action is slow, 
but it is sufficient, and it is the more rapid the finer 
the pulverization of the phosphate. The fine pre- 
cipitated phosphate exposes much more surface to 
the action of the water, and can consequently be 
taken up much more rapidly. 

Super-phosphate of lime may be made from whole 
bones, bone-dust, bone-black, or from the pure ashes 
of bones, or from phosphatic guano. 

The reason why super-phosphate of lime is better 
than phosphate, is therefore easily explained. The 
phosphate is very slowly soluble in water, and conse- 
quently furnishes food to plants slowly. A piece 
of bone as large as a pea may lie in the soil for years 
without being all consumed ; consequently, it will be 
years before its value is returned, and it pays no in- 
terest on its cost while lying there. The super-pJws- 
phate is very rapidly dissolved, and if evenly spread 
is diffused by the water of rains throughout the soil, — 
coating its absorbent particles with a nutriment held 
in a state of physical combination, ready to be 
yielded to the action of roots; hence its much 
greater value as a manure. 

It is true that the phosphate is a more lasting 



MANURES. 159 

manure than the super-phosphate — in the same way 
that gold buried in a pot in the garden is more last- 
ing than if used in labor and manure for its cultiva- 
tion. I desire, once for all, to caution farmers 
against attaching too much imporance to the lasting 
qualities of a manure. Generally they are lasting 
only in proportion as they are lazy. In manuring, 
as in other things, a nimble sixpence is better than a 
slow shilling. 

Of course it is not to be understood that all ma- 
nures used had better exert their full effect on the 
first year's crop, but the more rapidly it can be made 
available consistently with the course of cultivation 
adopted (the rotation, etc.), the less we shall lose in 
the item of interest. A hundred pounds of coarsely 
ground bones may give an extra crop of 250 lbs. of 
hay per year for ten years. The same quantity 
finely ground and evenly spread might add a thou- 
sand lbs. to the first year's crop, and if the hay is 
consumed on the farm, and its constituents returned 
in the form of manure, the same increase might be 
received year after year. Therefore, in considering 
the value of manure, more attention should be given 
to the rapidity of its action than to the time that it 
will last. Many farmers who have the proper facili- 
ties, may find it expedient to purchase bones or 
bone-dust and sulphuric acid, and to manufacture 
their own super-phosphate of lime ; others will prefer 
to purchase the prepared manure. Such purchases 
should be made with great care, and only from per- 
sons of established reputation, for nothing is easier 



1G0 MANURES. 

than the adulteration of this material. It is best, 
always, to stipulate that the manure shall contain a 
certain percentage of soluble and insoluble phospho- 
ric acid, — and to withhold payment until an average 
sample of the manure received has been tested by a 
competent chemist. 

SILICIC ACID. 

Silicic acid (or sand) always exists in the soil in 
sufficient quantities for the supply of food for plants ; 
but not always in the proper condition. This subject 
has been so often explained to the reader of this 
book, that it is only necessary to repeat here, that 
when the weakness of the straw or stalk of plants 
grown on any soil indicates an inability in that soil 
to supply the silicic acid required for strength, not 
more sand should be added, but alkalies, to combine 
with the sand already contained in it, and make 
soluble silicates which are available to roots. 

Sand is often necessary to stiff clays, as a mechani- 
cal manure, to loosen their texture and render them 
easier of cultivation, and more favorable to the dis- 
tribution of roots, and to the circulation of air and 
water, and in this capacity it is often very important. 
In my own practice I find it profitable to haul it 
three miles to use on heavy clay land. 

NEUTRALS. 
CHLORINE. 

Chlorine, a necessary constituent of plants, and 
sometimes, though not usually, deficient in the soil, 



MANURES. 161 

may be applied in the form of salt (chloride of so- 
dium), or chloride of lime. The former may be dis- 
solved in the water used to slake lime, and the latter 
may, with much advantage, be sprinkled around 
stables and other places where fertilizing gases are 
escaping, and, after being saturated with ammonia, 
applied to the soil, thus serving a double purpose. 
On a stock farm, a very good way to return to the 
soil the chlorine contained in the produce sold, is to 
give it freely to the animals. 



oxide or IKON. 

Probably all soils contain sufficient quantities of 
oxide of iron, or iron rust, so that this substance can 
hardly be required as a manure. 

Some soils, however, contain the protoxide of iron 
in such quantities as to be injurious to plants, — see 
page 74. When this is the case, it is necessary to 
plow the soil thoroughly, and use such other me- 
chanical means as shall open it to the admission of 
air. The protoxide of iron will then take up more 
oxygen, and become the peroxide — which is not only 
inoffensive, but is conducive to fertility. 



OXIDE OF MANGANESE. 

This can hardly be called an essential constituent 
of plants, and is never taken into consideration in 
manuring lands. 



1G2 MANURES. 

VARIOUS OTHER EARTHY MANURES. 
LEACHED ASHES. 

Among the earthy manures which have not yet 
been mentioned, — not coming strictly under any of 
the preceding heads, — is the one known as leached 
ashes. 

These are, of course, much less valuable than ashes 
from which the potash has not been leached out ; still, 
as potash is generally made, the leaching is not very 
complete, and a considerable quantity of this sub- 
stance, available to plants, is left in them. In addi- 
tion to this, they contain some phosphoric acid and 
silicic acid, which add to their value. Practically, 
they are held in high esteem in all localities where 
they can be obtained at a moderate cost of transport- 
ation. Care, however, should be taken, not to pur- 
chase ashes which have been made in lime-kilns, as 
these generally contain a large quantity of lime, 
which is not worth so high a price as the ashes. 

OLD MORTAR. 

Old mortar is a valuable manure, because it con- 
tains not only lime, but compounds of nitric acid 
with alkalies, — called nitrates. 

These are slowly formed in the mortar by the 
changing of the nitrogen of the hair (in the mortar) 
and of the ammonia received from the atmosphere 
into nitric acid, and the union of this with the 



MANURES. 163 

lime of the plaster, or with other alkalies which it 
may contain in minute quantities. 

The lime contained in the mortar may be useful 
in the soil for the many purposes accomplished by 
other lime, and is generally more valuable than that 
fresh from the kiln. 



GAS HOUSE LIME, ETC. 

Tlie refuse lime of gas works, where it can be 
cheaply obtained, may be advantageously used as a 
manure. It consists, chiefly, of various compounds 
of sulphur and lime. It should be composted with 
earth or refuse matter, so as to expose it to the action 
of air. It should never be used fresh from the gas 
house. In a few months the sulphur will have 
united with the oxygen of the air, and become sul- 
phuric acid, which unites with the lime and makes 
sulphate of lime (plaster,) which form it must as- 
sume, before it is of much value. Having been 
used to purify gas made from coal, it contains a 
small quantity of ammonia, which adds to its value. 
It is considered a profitable manure in England, at 
the price there paid for it (forty cents a cartload), 
and, if of good quality, it may be worth more than 
that, especially for soils deficient in sulphuric acid 
or lime, or for such crops as are much benefited by 
plaster. Its price must, of course, be regulated some- 
what by the price of lime, which constitutes a large 
proportion of its fertilizing parts. The offensive 
odor of this compound renders it a good protection 



164 MANURES. 

against many insects, when used in its fresh state : 
but in this state it should be very cautiously ap- 
plied. 

The refuse liquor of gas works contains enough 
ammonia to make it a valuable manure. It should 
be filtered through earth or muck, Vhich will retain 
its valuable parts, and will be enriched by them. 

SOAPERs' LEY AND BLEACHERS' LEY. 

The refuse ley of soap factories and bleaching es- 
tablishments contains greater or less quantities of 
soluble silicates and alkalies (especially soda and pot- 
ash,) and is a good addition to the tank of the com- 
post heap, or it may be used directly as a liquid 
application to the soil, or, better, filtered as above 
described. The soapers' ley, especially, will be found 
a good manure for lands on which grain lodges. 

Much of the benefit of this manure arises from the 
soluble silicates it contains, while its nitrogenous 
matter obtained from those parts of the fatty matters 
which cannot be converted into soap, and conse- 
quently remain in this solution, forms a valuable 
addition. Heaps of soil saturated with this liquid 
in autumn, and subjected to the freezings of winter, 
form an admirable manure for spring use. 

IRRIGATION. 

Irrigation, strictly speaking, should not be con- 
sidered under the head of earthy manures alone, as it 



MANURES. 165 

often supplies ammonia and other organic matters to 
the soil. Its chief value, however, in most cases, 
must depend on the amount of mineral matter which 
it furnishes. 

The word "irrigation" means simply the act of 
watering. In many districts water is in various 
ways made to overflow the land, and is removed or 
withheld when necessary for the purposes of cultiva- 
tion. All river and spring water contains some im- 
purities, many of which are beneficial to vegetation. 
These are derived from the earth over, or through, 
which the water has passed. Ammonia also is ab- 
sorbed by the water from the atmosphere. When 
water is made to cover the earth, especially if its 
rapid motion be arrested, much of this fertilizing 
matter settles, and is deposited on or absorbed by the 
soil. The water which sinks into the soil carries its 
impurities to be retained for the uses of plants. 
When, by the aid of under-drains, or the open texture 
of the land, the water passes through the soil, its im- 
purities are arrested, and become available in vege- 
table growth. It is, of course, impossible to say 
exactly what kind of mineral matter is supplied by 
the water of irrigation, as that depends on the kind 
of rock or soil from which the impurities are derived ; 
but, whatever it may be, it is generally soluble and 
ready for immediate use by plants, and is distributed 
in the most uniform manner possible. 

Water which has run over the surface of the earth 
contains both ammonia and mineral matter, while 
that which has arisen out of the earth, contains 



163 MANURES. 

usually only mineral matter. The direct effect of 
the water of irrigation as a solvent and distributer 
of the mineral ingredients of the soil, constitutes one 
of its main benefits. 

To describe the many modes of irrigation would 
be too long a task for our limited space. It may be 
applied in any way in which it is possible to cover 
the land with water, at stated times. Care is neces- 
sary, however, that it does not wash more fertilizing 
matter away from the soil than it deposits upon it, as 
would often be the case, if a strong current of water 
were run over it. Brooks may be dammed up, and 
thus made to cover a large quantity of land. In 
such a case the rapid current would be destroyed, 
and the fertilizing matter would settle ; but, if the 
course of the brook were turned, so that it would run 
in a current over any part of the soil, it might carry 
away more than it deposited, and thus prove injuri- 
ous. Small streams turned on to land, from the 
washing of roads, or from elevated springs, are good 
means of irrigation, and produce increased fertility, 
except where the soil is of such a character as to pre- 
vent the water from passing away, in which case it 
must first be under-drained. 

Irrigation was one of the oldest sources of fertility 
used by man, and still continues in great favor wher- 
ever its effects have been witnessed. In England 
and Scotland, much attention is now being paid to 
the question of liquid manure irrigation, and an at- 
tempt is being made to employ the vast discharges 
of the London sewers. For this purpose it is in con- 



MANURES. 167 

templation to build an aqueduct forty miles long and 
nine feet in diameter for its distribution. In the 
experiments made with this manure during the sum- 
mer of 1867, fifty-three tons of Italian rye-grass were 
grown on a single acre, nine tons being grown in 
twenty-two days. 

On the farm of the celebrated Mr. Mechi at Tip- 
tree Hall, the system was, many years ago, adopted 
of converting all the manure of the stables into a 
liquid, and distributing it over the farm by means of 
uuder-ground pipes and movable hose. Mr. Mechi 
still continues the practice and considers it profit- 
able. 

This subject is mentioned in this connection, not 
as affording an example which can be profitably fol- 
lowed here, so much as because it shows how much 
expense may be profitably applied to the distribution 
of manure in a liquid form. 



MIXING SOILS. 

The mixing of soils is often all that is necessary 
to render them fertile, and to improve their mechan- 
ical condition. For instance, soils deficient in pot- 
ash, or any other constituent, may have that deficiency 
supplied, by mixing with them soil containing this 
constituent in excess. 

It is very frequently the case, that such means of 
improvement are easily availed of. While these 
chemical effects are being produced, there may be an 
equal improvement in the mechanical character of 



168 MANURES. 

the soil. Thus stiff clay soils are rendered lighter, 
and more easily workable, by an admixture of sand, 
while light blowy sands are compacted, and made 
more retentive of manure, by a dressing of clay or 
of muck. Of course, this cannot be depended on as 
a sure means of chemical improvement, but in a 
majority of cases the land will be benefited by mix- 
ing with it soil of a different character. It is not 
always necessary to go to other locations to procure 
the earth to be applied, as the sub-soil is often very 
different from the surface soil, and simple deep plow- 
ing will suffice, in such cases, to produce the required 
admixture, by bringing up the earth from below to 
mingle it with that of a different character at the sur- 
face. 

Until it is demonstrated that a large admixture of 
the sub-soil will not lessen the fertility of the surface 
(and in a large majority of cases it will not), it is 
safest to deepen the plowing inch by inch. This 
subject is worthy of the consideration of all farmers, 
for there are very few cases in which the arable sur- 
face will not be improved by the addition of matters 
contained in the sub-soil. Even the earth thrown 
from the bottom of deep ditches sometimes has an 
astonishing effect on the fertility of the soil, and it 
would be well to try the experiment of digging a 
deep pit, spreading the earth taken from it on the 
surface of the land. If this is found to have a good 
effect, it will offer a ready means of improving the 
soil. 



MANURES. 160 

In the foregoing remarks on the subject of mineral 
manures, I have endeavored to point out such a 
course as would result in the " greatest good to the 
greatest number," and consequently, have neglected 
much which might discourage the farmer with the 
idea, that the whole system of scientific agriculture 
is too expensive for his adoption. Still, while I have 
confined my remarks to the more simple improve- 
ments on the present system of management, I 
would say briefly, that no manuring can be strictly 
economical that is not based on a knowledge of the re- 
quirements of the soil and of the crops^ and of the 
best means of supplying them, together with the most 
scrupulous care of every ounce of evaporating or sol- 
uble manure made on the farm, and a return of the 
earthy matters sold off in produce. 



CHAPTEE X. 

ATMOSPHERIC FERTILIZERS. 

It is not common to regard the gases in the at- 
mosphere in the light of manures, but they are the 
most important manures we have, as they are the 
original source of more than nine-tenths of the entire 
production of our fields. Indeed, they are almost the 
only organic manure ever received by the uncultiva- 
ted parts of the earth, as well as by a large portion of 

8 



170 MANURES. 

that which is occupied in the production of food for 
man. 

If these gases were not manures ; if there were no 
means by which they could be used by plants, the 
fertility of the soil would long since have ceased, and 
the earth would be unfertile. That this must be 
true, will be shown by a few moments' reflection on 
the facts stated in the first part of this book. The 
fertilizing gases in the atmosphere being composed 
of the constituents of decayed plants and animals, it 
is as necessary that they should be again returned to 
the form of organized matter, as it is that constitu- 
ents taken from the soil should not be put out of 
existence. 

AMMONIA. 

The ammonia in the atmosphere probably cannot 
be appropriated by the leaves of plants, and must, 
therefore, enter the soil to be assimilated by roots. 
It reaches the soil in two ways. It is either arrested 
from the air circulating through the soil, or it is ab- 
sorbed by rains in the atmosphere, and thus carried 
to the earth, where it is retained by its clay and car- 
bon, for the uses of plants. In the soil, ammonia is 
the most important of all organic manures. In fact, 
the value of the organic parts of manure may be 
estimated, either by the amount of ammonia which 
they will yield, or by their power of absorbing am- 
monia from other sources. 

The most important use of ammonia in the soil is 



MARCHES. 171 

to supply nitrogen to plants ; but it has other offices 
which are of consequence. It assists in some of the 
chemical changes necessary to prepare the matters 
in the soil for assimilation, and gives to the water in 
which it is dissolved an increased power to dissolve 
mineral plant food. 

Although, in the course of nature, the atmospheric 
fertilizers are largely supplied to the soil, without 
the immediate attention of the farmer, it is not be- 
yond his power to cause their absorption in still 
greater quantity. The means for doing this have 
been repeatedly given in the preceding pages, but it 
may be well to name them again in this chapter. 

The condition of the soil is the main point to be 
considered. It must be such as to absorb and retain 
ammonia — to allow water to pass through it, and be 
discharged oelow the depth to which the roots of 
crops are searching for food — and to admit of a free 
circulation of air. 

The power of absorbing and retaining ammonia is 
not possessed by sand, but it is a prominent property 
of clay, charcoal, and some other matters named as 
absorbents. Hence, if the soil consist of pure sand, 
it will not make use of the ammonia brought to it 
from the atmosphere, but will allow it to evaporate 
immediately after a shower, or to be washed through 
it by rains. Soils in this condition require additions 
of absorbent matters, to enable them to use the am- 
monia received from the atmosphere. Soils already 
containing a sufficient amount of clay or charcoal, are 
thus far prepared to receive benefit from this source. 



t 

172 MANURES. 

The next point is to cause the water of rains to 
pass through the soil. If it lies on the surface, or 
runs off without entering the soil, it is not probable 
that the fertilizing matters which it contains will all be 
abstracted. Some of them will undoubtedly return 
to the atmosphere on the evaporation of the water ; 
but, if the soil contains a sufficient supply of absorb- 
ents, and will allow all rain water to pass through it, 
the fertilizing gases will all be retained. They will 
be filtered out of the water, which will pass out ot 
the drains almost pure. 

This subject will be more fully treated in Section 
IV., in connection with under-draining. 

Besides the properties just described, the soil 
ought to possess the power of admitting a free cir- 
culation of air. To effect this, the soil should be 
well pulverized to a great depth. If, in addition to 
this, it be of such a character as to allow water to 
pass through it, it will facilitate such a circulation of 
air as is best calculated to give the greatest supply 
of ammonia. 

CARBONIC ACID . 

Carbonic acid is received from the atmosphere, 
both by the leaves and by the roots of plants. 

It is absorbed by the water in the soil, and greatly 
increases its power of dissolving earthy plant food. 
This use is one of very great importance, as it is 
equivalent to making the minerals themselves more 
soluble. Water dissolves carbonate of lime, etc., 



MANURES. 173 

exactly in proportion to the amount of carbonic acid 
which it contains. We should, therefore, strive to 
have as much carbonic acid as possible in the water 
in the soil. One way, in which to effect this, is to 
admit to the soil the largest possible quantity of at- 
mospheric air, which contains this gas. 

The condition of soil necessary for this, is the same 
as is required for the deposit of ammonia by the same 
circulation of air. 

OXYGEN. 

Oxygen, though not taken up by plants as food 
in its pure form, may justly be classed among ma- 
nures, if we consider its effects both chemical and 
mechanical in the soil. 

1. By oxidizing or rusting some of the constit- 
uents of the soil, it prepares them for the uses of 
plants. 

2. It unites with the protoxide of iron, and 
changes it to the ^roxide. 

3. If there are acids in the soil, which make it 
sour and unfertile, it may be opened to the circula- 
tion of the air, and the oxygen will prepare some of 
the mineral matters contained in the soil to unite 
with the acids and neutralize them. 

4. Oxygen combines with the carbon of organic 
matters in the soil, and causes them to decay. The 
combination produces carbonic acid. 

5. It undoubtedly affects in some way the matter 
which is thrown out from the roots of plants. This, 



174: MANURES. 

if allowed to accumulate, and remain unchanged, is 
supposed to be injurious to plants ; but, probably, 
the oxygen and carbonic acid of the air in tne soil 
change it to an inoffensive form, and even make it 
again useful to the plant. 

6. It may also improve the mechanical condition 
of the soil, as it causes its particles to crumble, thus 
making it finer ; and it roughens the surfaces of par- 
ticles, making them less likely to become too com- 
pact. 

These properties of oxygen claim for it a high 
place among the atmospheric fertilizers. 

WATER. 

Water may be considered an atmospheric ma- 
nure, as its chief supply to vegetation is received 
from the air in the form of rain or dew. Its many 
effects are already too well known to need further 
comment. 

Supplying water to the soil by the deposit of dew 
will be considered in Section IY. 



CHAPTER XI. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Manures have two distinct classes of action in the 
soil, namely, chemical and mechanical. 



MANURES. 175 

Chemical manures are those which enter into the 
construction of plants, or produce such chemical 
effects on matters already contained in the soil as 
shall prepare them for use. 

Mechanical manures are those which improve the 
mechanical condition of the soil, such as loosening 
stiff clays, compacting light sands, pulverizing large 
particles, etc. Many manures act both chemically 
and mechanically. 

Manures may be classified under three distinct 
heads, namely, Organic, mineral, and atmospheric. 

Organic manures comprise all vegetable and ani- 
mal matters (except ashes) which are used to fer- 
tilize the soil. Vegetable manures supply carbonic 
acid, some ammonia, and earthy matter to plants. 
Animal manures supply the same substances and 
much mbre ammonia. 

Mineral manures comprise ashes, salt, phosphate 
of lime, plaster, etc. They supply plants with earthy 
matter. Their usefulness depends in great degree on 
their solubility. 

Many of the organic and mineral manures have 
the power of absorbing ammonia arising from the de- 
composition of animal manures, as well as that which 
is brought to the soil by rains — these are called ab- 
sorbents. 

Atmospheric manures consist of ammonia, car- 
bonic acid, oxygen and water. Their greatest use- 
fulness requires the soil to allow the water of rains to 
pass through it, to admit of a free circulation of air 
among its particles, and to contain a sufficient 



176 MANUKES. 

amount of absorbent matter to arrest and retain all 
ammonia and carbonic acid presented to it. 

Manures should be applied to the soil with due 
regard to its requirements. 

Ammonia and carbon are always useful, but 
mineral manures become mere dirt when applied to 
soils already containing them in abundance. 

Organic manures must be protected against the 
escape of their ammonia, and especially against the 
leaching out of their soluble parts. One cord of 
stable manure properly preserved, is worth ten cords 
which have lost all of their ammonia by evaporation, 
and their soluble parts by leaching — as is the case 
with much of the manure kept exposed in open 
barn-yards. 

Atmospheric manures cost nothing, and are of 
great value when properly employed. In conse- 
quence of this, the soil which is enabled to make the 
largest appropriation of the atmospheric fertilizers, 
is worth many times as much as that which allows 
them to escape. 

In fact, it may be considered to be the object of all 
cultivation, to use the advantages which the soil and 
manures offer for the purpose of consolidating and 
giving a useful form to the carbonic acid, ammonia 
and water, which are freely offered to all seekers. 

Liebig says : — " A certain mass of gold and silver 
circulates in the world, and the art of becoming 
rich consists in knowing the way to divert from 
the main stream an additional brook to one's own 
house. In like manner there circulates, in the air 



MANURES. 177 

and in the soil, a relatively inexhaustible quantity 
of the food of plants ; and the art of the farmer con- 
sists in knowing and using the means of rendering 
this food available for his crops. The more he is 
able to divert from the moving stream (the air) to 
the immovable promoter of his production (the 
soil of his fields), the more will the sum of his 

wealth and his products increase." 

8* 



SECTION FOURTH. 

MECHANICAL CULTIVATION. 



SECTION FOURTH. 

MECHANICAL CULTIVATION. 



CHAPTEK I. 



THE MECHANICAL CHARACTER OF SOILS. 

The mechanical character of the soil has been 
sufficiently explained in the preceding remarks, and 
the learner knows that it has many offices to perform 
aside from the feeding of plants. 

1. It admits the roots of plants, and holds them in 
their position. 

2. By a sponge-like action, it holds water for the 
uses of the plant. 

3. It absorbs moisture from the atmosphere to 
supply the demands of the plants. 

4. It absorbs heat from the sun's rays to assist in 
the processes of growth. 

4. It admits air to circulate among roots, and sup- 
ply them with a part of their food, while the oxygen 



182 CULTIVATION. 

of that air renders available the minerals of the soil ; 
and its carbonic acid, being absorbed by the water in 
the soil, gives it the power of dissolving and supply- 
ing to roots more earthy matter than would be dis- 
solved by purer water. 

All of these actions the soil must be capable of 
performing, before it can be in its highest state of 
fertility. There are comparatively few soils now in 
this condition, but there are also few which could 
not be profitably rendered so, by a judicious appli- 
cation of the various modes of cultivation. 

The three great objects to be accomplished are : — 

1. To adopt such a system of drainage as will 
cause as much as possible of the water of rains to 
pass through the soil, instead of evaporating from the 
surface. 

2. To pulverize the soil to a considerable depth. 

3. To darken its color, and to render it capable of 
absorbing atmospheric fertilizers. 

The means used to secure these effects are under- 
draining, sub-soil and surface-plowing, digging, ap- 
plying much, etc. 



CHAPTEK II. 



UNDER-DRAINING. 



All soils which are cultivated should be thorough- 
ly underdrained, either naturally or artificially. 



CULTIVATION". 183 

All lands which are made wet by springs or 
through which the water of rains does not readily 
settle away, must be drained artificially before they 
can be cultivated to the best advantage. 

The advantages of ^m^r-drains over open-drains 
are very great. 

When open drains are used, much water passes 
into them immediately from the surface, and carries 
with it fertilizing parts of the soil, while their beds 
are often puddled by the running water and baked 
by the heat of the sun, so that they become water 
tight, and do not admit water from the lower parts 
of the soil. 

The sides of these drains are often covered with 
weeds, which spread their seeds throughout the whole 
field. Open drains are not only a great obstruction 
to the proper cultivation of the land, but they cause 
much waste of room, as we can rarely plow nearer 
than within six or eight feet of them. . 

There are none of these objections to the use of 
under-drains, as these are completely covered, and do 
not at all interfere with the cultivation of the sur- 
face. 

Under-drains may be made with brush, stones, or 
tiles. Brush is a very poor material, and its use is 
hardly to be recommended, except when a better 
material cannot be afforded. Small stones are bet- 
ter, and if these be placed in the bottom of the 
trenches, to a depth of eight or ten inches, and cov- 
ered with a little litter, having the earth packed well 
down on them, they make very good drains. But 



184 



CULTIVATION. 



they are very much more costly than tile drains, and 
are not so permanent. 

TILE DRAINING. 

The best under-drains are those made with tiles, 
or burnt clay pipes. The first form of these used 
was that called the horse-slioe tile, which has the 
form of an arch, leaving the unprotected ground for 
the water to flow over ; this was superseded by the 
round pipe, and the sole tile. 

" Experience in both public and private works in this 
country, and the cumulative testimony of English and 
French engineers, have demonstrated that the only 
tile which it is economical to use, is the best that can 
be found, and that the best, — much the best, — thus 
far invented, is the pipe, or round tile, and collar ; 




Fig. 3.— Round Tile and Collar. 

and these are unhesitatingly recommended for use in 
all cases. Round tiles of small sizes should not be laid 
without collars, as the ability to use these constitutes 
their chief advantage; holding them perfectly in 
place, preventing the rattling in of loose dirt in lay- 
ing, and giving twice the space for the entrance of 
water at the joints. A chief advantage of the 
larger sizes is, that they may be laid on any side and 
thus made to fit closely. The usual sizes of these 



CULTIVATION. 185 

tiles are 1J- inches, 2^ inches, and 3 J inches in inte- 
rior diameter. Sections of the 2^ inch make collars 
for the H inch, and sections of the 3f inch make 
collars for the 2£ inch. The 3^ inch does not need 
collars, as it is easily secured in place, and is only 
used when the flow of water would be sufficient to 
wash out the slight quantity of foreign matters that 
might enter at the joints." * 




Fig. 4— Sole Tile. 

This tile is made (like the horse-shoe and pipe tile) 
of common brick clay, and is burned the same as 
bricks. It is about one half or three quarters of an 
inch thick. The orifice through which the water 
passes is egg-shaped, having its smallest curve at the 
bottom. This shape is the one most easily kept clear, 
as any particles of dirt which get into the drain 
must fall immediately to the point where even the 
smallest stream of water runs, and are thus removed. 
An orifice of about two inches rise is sufficient for the 
smaller drains, while the main drains require larger 
tiles. 

These tiles are so laid that their ends will touch 
each other, on the bottoms of the trenches, and are 
kept in position by having the earth tightly packed 

* Draining for Profit and Draining for Health, by G-. E. Waring, 
Jr. , page 81. 



1S6 



CULTIVATION. 



around tliem. Care must be taken that no space is 
left between the ends of the tiles, as dirt would be 
liable to get in and choke the drain. This may be 
best prevented by the use of collars / but if sole tiles 
are used, as collars cannot be fitted to them, it is w T ell 
to cover the top of the joint with a very small rope 
of twisted grass, secured by a stone or lump of clay 
on each end, or to lay on the joint a saddle of bent 
tin, zinc, or galvanized iron, which may be obtained 
at little cost from a tinsmith, cut from pieces in the 
waste-heap. 

The ditches for tile draining may be narrowed in, 
at the bottom, to a width barely sufficient for the 
workman's foot. In filling-in, after the tile is laid, 
care should be taken that no stones large enough to 
break the tile be allowed to fall upon them. After 
the tiles are covered to a depth of a foot or eighteen 
inches, the tilling should be trodden, or pounded, 
firmly down, so as to fit closely around the tiles, and 
leave no space for water to circulate about them. 

Tile drains are made with 
much less labor than the stone 
drains, as they require less dig- 
ging, while the breaking up of 
the stone for the stone drain 
will be usually more expen- 
sive than the tiles. Drains 




Fig. 5. 
a — Tile drain trench. 
b — Stone drain trench. 
c — Sod laid on the stone. 



made with large stones are not 



nearly so good as with small 
ones, because they are more 
liable to be choked up by animals working in them. 



CULTIVATION. 187 

CHAPTEE III. 

ADVANTAGES OF TT ND E R - DR AINING. 

The advantages of under-draining are many and im- 
portant. 

I. It greatly lessens the injurious effects of drought. 
*£. It admits an increased supply of atmospheric 

fertilizers. 

3. It warms the lower portions of the soil. 

4. It hastens the decomposition of roots and other 
organic matter. 

5. It accelerates the disintegration of the minerals 
in the soil. 

6. It causes a more even distribution of nutritious 
matters among those parts of soil traversed by roots. 

7. It improves the mechanical texture of the soil. 

8. It tends to prevent grasses from "running out." 

9. It enables us to deepen the surface soil. 
By removing excess of water — 

10. It renders soils earlier in the spring. 

II. It greatly lessens the throwing out of grain in 
winter. 

12. It allows us to work sooner after rains. 

13. It keeps off the effects of cold weather longer 
in the fall. 

14. It prevents the formation of acetic and other 
organic acids, which induce the growth of sorrel and 
similar weeds. 

15. It hastens the decay of vegetable matter, and 



188 CULTIVATION. 

the finer comminution of the earthy parts of the 
soil. 

16. It prevents, in a great measure, the evapora- 
tion of water, and the consequent cooling of the soil. 

17. It admits fresh quantities of water from rains, 
etc., which are always more or less imbued with the 
fertilizing gases of the atmosphere, to be deposited 
among the absorbent parts of soil, and given up to 
the demands of plants. 

18. It prevents the formation of so hard a crust 
on the surface of the soil as is customary on heavy 
lands. 



1. Under-draining lessens the effect of drought, be- 
cause it gives a better circulation of air in the soil 
(it does so by making it more. open). There is al- 
ways the same amount of water in and about the 
surface of the earth. In winter there is more in the 
soil than in summer, while in summer, that which 
has been dried out of the soil exists in the atmosphere 
in the form of a vapor. It is held in the vapory 
form by heat, which acts as braces to keep it distend- 
ed. When vapor comes in contact with substances 
sufficiently colder than itself, it gives up its heat — 
thus losing its braces — contracts, and becomes liquid 
water. 

This may be observed in hundreds of common 
operations. 

It is well known that a cold pitcher in summer 



CULTIVATION. 189 

robs the vapor in the atmosphere of its heat, and 
causes it to be deposited on its own surface. It looks 
as though the pitcher were sweating, but the water 
all comes from the atmosphere, not, of course, through 
the sides of the pitcher. 

If we breathe on a knife-blade, it condenses in the 
same manner the moisture of the breath, and becomes 
covered with a film of water. 

Stone houses are damp in summer, because the 
inner surfaces of the walls, being cooler than the 
atmosphere, cause its moisture to be deposited in the 
manner described. By leaving a space, however, 
between the walls and the plaster, this moisture is 
prevented from being troublesome, and if the space 
is closed against the circulation of air containing 
moisture there will be no vapor brought in contact 
with the cool surface of the wall, and therefore no 
deposit of moisture. 

Nearly every night in the summer season, the cold 
earth receives moisture from the atmosphere in the 
form of dew. 

A cabbage, which at night is very cold, condenses 
water to the amount of a gill or more. 

The same operation takes place in the soil. When 
the air is allowed to circulate among its lower and 
cooler particles, they receive moisture from the same 
process of condensation. Therefore, when, by the 
aid of under-drains, the lower soil becomes sufficient- 
ly open to admit of a circulation of air, the deposit of 
atmospheric moisture will keep the soil supplied with 
water at a point easily accessible to the roots of plants. 



190 



CULTIVATION. 



If we wish to satisfy ourselves that this is practi- 
cally correct, we have only to prepare two boxes of 
finely pulverized soil — one, five or six inches deep, 
and the other fifteen or twenty inches deep — and 
place them in the sun at mid-day in summer. The 
thinner soil will be completely dried, while the deeper 
one, though it may have been dried in an oven at 
first, will soon accumulate a large amount of water 
on those particles which, being lower and more 
sheltered from the sun's heat than the particles of 
the thin soil, are made cooler. 

With an open condition of subsoil, then, such as 
may be secured by under-draining, we fortify our- 
selves against drought. 

2. Under-draining admits an increased supply of 
atmospheric fertilizers i , because it secures a change 
of air in the soil. This change is produced when 
ever the soil becomes filled with water, and then 
dried ; when the air above the earth is in rapid mo- 
tion, and when the comparative temperature of the 
upper and lower soils changes. It causes new quan- 
tities of the ammonia and carbonic acid which it 
contains to be presented to the absorbent parts of 
the soil. 

3. Under-draining warms the lower parts of the 
soil, because the deposit of moisture (1) is necessarily 
accompanied by an abstraction of heat from the at- 
mospheric vapor, and because heat is withdrawn 
from the whole amount of air circulating through 
the cooler soil. 

When rain falls on the parched surface soil, it robs 



CULTIVATION. 191 

it of a portion of its heat, which is carried down to 
equalize the temperature for the whole depth. The 
heat of the rain-water itself is given up to the soil, 
leaving the water from one to ten degrees cooler, 
when it passes out of the drains, than when received 
by the earth. 

This heating of the lower soil of course renders it 
more favorable to vegetation. 

4. Under-draining hastens the decomposition of 
roots and other organic matters in the soil, by ad- 
mitting increased quantities of air, thus supplying 
oxygen, which is as essential in decay as it is in com- 
bustion. It also allows the resultant gases of de- 
composition to pass away, leaving the air around 
the decaying substances in a condition to continue 
the process. 

This organic decay, besides its other benefits, pro- 
duces an amount of heat perfectly perceptible to the 
smaller roots of plants, though not so to us. 

5. Draining accelerates the disintegration of the 
minerals in the soil, by admitting water and oxygen 
to keep up the process. This disintegration is ne- 
cessary to fertility, because the roots of plants can 
feed only on matters dissolved from surfaces j and 
the more finely we pulverize the soil, the more sur- 
face we expose. For instance, the interior of a stone 
can furnish no food for plants ; while, if it were 
finely crushed, it might make a fertile soil. 

Anything tending to open the soil to the air facili- 
tates the disintegration of its particles, and thereby 
increases its fertility. 



192 CULTIVATION. 

6. Draining causes a more even distribution of 
nutritious /natters among those parts of soil trav- 
ersed by roots, because it increases the ease with which 
water travels about, descending by its own weight, 
moving sideways by a desire to rind its level, or car- 
ried upward by attraction to supply the evaporation 
at the surface, By this continued motion of the 
water, soluble matter from one part of the soil may 
be carried to adjacent parts ; and another constitu- 
ent from this latter position may be carried back to 
the former. Thus the food of vegetables is evenly 
distributed through the soil. As soon as one parti- 
cle is fully supplied with any element of plant nu- 
trition, further amounts brought by water are carried 
to the next particle that can receive it — and so on, 
until the supply of soluble material is exhausted. 
This food is ready for absorption at any point where 
it is needed, while the more open character of the 
soil enables roots to occupy larger portions, making a 
more even drain on the whole, and preventing the 
undue impoverishment of any part. 

7. Under-drains improve the mechanical ' tewture of 
the soil I because, by the decomposition of its parts, 
as previously described (± and 5), it is rendered of 
a character to be more easily worked ; while smooth 
round particles, which have a tendency to pack, are 
roughened by the oxidation of their surfaces, and 
move less easilv among each other. 

8. By under-draining, grasses are prevented from 
running out. The grasses of meadows usually con- 
sist of tillering plants, which reproduce themselves 



CULTIVATION. 103 

in sprouts from the upper parts of their roots, or 
from the joints of the roots. These sprouts become 
independent plants, and continue to tiller (thus 
keeping the land supplied with a full growth ), until 
the roots of the stools (or clumps of tillers), come 
in contact with an uncongenial part of the soil, 
when the tillering ceases ; the stools become extinct 
on the death of their plants, and the grasses run 
out. 

The open and healthy condition of soil pro- 
duced by draining prevents the tillering from being 
stopped so long as the fertility of the soil lasts, and 
thus keeps up a full growth of grass until the nutri- 
ment of the soil is exhausted. 

9. Draining enables us to deepen the surface-soil, 
because the admission of air and the decay of roots, 
( which descend much deeper in drained than in un- 
drained land,) render the condition of the sub-soil 
such, that it may be brought up and mixed with the 
surface-soil, without injuring its quality. 

The second class of advantages of under-drain- 
ing, arising in the removal of the excess of water 
in the soil, are quite as important as those just de- 
scribed. 

10. Soils are, thereby, rendered earlier in spring, 
because the water, which rendered them cold, heavy, 
and untillable, is earlier removed, leaving them ear- 
lier in a growing condition. 

11. The throiving out of grain in winter is les- 
sened, because the water falling on the earth is im- 
mediately removed instead of remaining to throw up 



194 CULTIVATION. 

the soil by freezing, as it always does, from the up- 
right position taken by the particles of ice. 

12. We are enabled to work sooner after rains, 
because the water descends, and is immediately re- 
moved, instead of lying to be taken off by the slow pro- 
cess of evaporation, and sinking through a heavy soil. 

13. The effects of cold weather are kept off longer 
in the fall, by the removal of the excess of water 
which would produce an unfertile condition on the 
first appearance of cold weather. 

The drains also, from causes already named (3), 
keep the soil warmer than before being drained, thus 
actually lengthening the season, by making the soil 
warm enough for vegetable growth earlier in spring, 
and later in autumn. 

14. Lands are prevented from becoming sour by 
the formation of acetic acid, etc., because these acids 
are produced in the soil only when organic matter 
decomposes in contact with an excessive quantity of 
water. If the water is removed, the decomposition 
of the organic matter assumes a healthy form, while 
the acids already produced are neutralized by atmos- 
pheric influences, and the soil is restored to a condi- 
tion in which it is fitted for the growth of the more 
valuable plants. 

15. The decay of roots, etc., is allowed to proceed, 
because the preservative influence of too much water 
is removed. Wood, leaves, or other vegetable matter 
kept continually under water, will last for ages ; 
while, if exposed to the action of the weather, as in 
under-drained soils, they soon decay. 



CULTIVATION. 195 

The presence of too much water, by excluding the 
oxygen of the air, prevents the comminution of min- 
eral matters necessary to fertility. 

16. The evaporation of water, and the consequent 
cooling of the soil, is in a great measure prevented 
by draining the water out at the bottom, of the soil, 
instead of leaving it to be dried off from the sur- 
face. 

When water assumes the gaseous (or vapory) form, 
it occupies nearly 2000 times the space it occupied 
as a liquid, and as the vapor is of the same tempera- 
ture as the liquid, it follows that it contains vastly 
more heat. A large part of this heat is derived 
from surrounding substances. When water is sprink- 
led on the floor, it cools the room ; because, as it 
becomes a vapor, it takes heat from the room. The 
reason why vapor does not feel hotter than liquid 
water is, that, its heat is diffused through the larger 
mass, so that a cubic inch of vapor, into which we place 
the bulb of a thermometer, contains no more heat than 
a cubic inch of water. The principle is the same in 
some other cases. A sponge containing a table- 
spoonful of water is just as wet as one twice as large 
containing two spoonfuls. 

If a wet cloth be placed on the head, and the evap- 
oration of its water assisted by fanning, the head 
becomes cooler — a portion of its heat being taken to 
sustain the vapory condition of the water. 

The same principle holds true with the soil. 
When the evaporation of water is rapidly going on, 
by the assistance of the sun, wind, etc., a large 



196 CULTIVATION. 

quantity of heat is abstracted, and the soil becomes 
cold. 

This cooling of the soil by the evaporation of 
water, is of very great injury to its power of pro- 
ducing crops, and the fact that under-drains lessen 
it, is one of the best arguments in favor of their 
use. Some idea may, perhaps, be formed of the 
amount of heat taken from the soil in this way, from 
the fact that, in midsummer, twenty-five hogsheads 
of water may be evaporated from a single acre in 
twelve hours. 

17. When not saturated with water the soil ad- 
mits the water of rains, etc., which bring with them 
fertilizing gases from the atmosphere, to be deposit- 
ed among the absorbent parts of the soil, and given 
up for the necessities of the plant. When this rain 
falls on lands already saturated, it cannot enter the 
soil, but must run off from the surface, or be re- 
moved by evaporation, either of which is injurious. 
The first, because fertilizing matter is washed away. 
The second, because the soil is deprived of necessary 
heat. 

18. The formation of crust on the surface of the 
soil is due to the evaporation of the water of the soil. 
It arises partly from the fact that the water in the 
soil is saturated with mineral substances, which it 
leaves at its point of evaporation at the surface. 
This soluble matter often forms a very hard crust, 
which is a complete shield to prevent the admission of 
air with its ameliorating effects, and should, as far 
as possible, be avoided. Under-draining is the best 



CULTIVATION. 197 

means of doing this, as it is the best means of lessen- 
ing the evaporation, and of preventing the puddling 
of the clay in the soil. 

The foregoing are some of the more important 
reasons why under-draining is always beneficial. 
Thorough experiments have amply proved the truth 
of the theory. 

" Land which requires draining is that which, at 
some time during the year, (either from an accumu- 
lation of the rains which fall upon it, from the later- 
al flow or soakage from adjoining land, from springs 
which open within it, or from a combination of two 
or all of these sources,) becomes filled with water 
that does not readily find a natural outlet, but 
remains until removed by evaporation. Every con- 
siderable addition to its water wells up, and soaks 
its very surface ; and that which is added after it is 
already brim-full, must flow off over the surface, or lie 
in puddles upon it. Evaporation is a slow process, 
and it becomes more and more slow as the level of 
the water recedes from the surface, and is sheltered 
by the overlying earth from the action of sun and 
wind. Therefore, at least during the periods of 
spring and fall preparation of the land, during the 
early growth of plants, and often even in mid- 
summer, the water-table, — the top of the water of 
saturation, — is within a few inches of the surface, 
preventing the natural descent of roots, and, by 
reason of the small space to receive fresh rains, caus- 
ing an interruption of work for some days after each 
storm. 



198 CULTIVATION. 

" If such land is properly furnished with tile drains, 
(having a clear and sufficient outfall, offering suffi- 
cient means of entrance to the water which reaches 
them, and carrying it, by a uniform or increasing 
descent, to the outlet,) its water will be removed to 
nearly, or quite, the level of the floor of the drains, 
and its water-table will be at the distance of some 
feet from the surface, leaving the spaces between the 
particles of all the soil above it filled with air instead 
of water. The water below the drains stands at a 
level, like any other water that is dammed up. 
Rain-water falling upon the soil, will descend by its 
own weight to this level, and the water will rise into 
the drains, as it would flow over a dam, until the 
proper level is again obtained. Spring-water enter- 
ing from below, and water oozing from the adjoin- 
ing land, will be removed in like manner, and the 
usual condition of the soil, above the water-table, 
will be that which is best adapted to the growth of 
useful plants. 

" In the heaviest storms, some water will flow over 
the surface of even the dryest beach sand ; but in a 
well-drained soil the water of ordinary rains will be 
at once absorbed, will slowly descend toward the 
water- able, and will be removed by the drains so 
rapidly, even in heavy clays, as to leave the ground 
fit for cultivation, and in a condition for steady 
growth, within a short time after the rain ceases. It 
has been estimated that a drained soil has room 
between its particles for about one quarter of its 
bulk of water, that is, four inches of drained soil con- 



CULTIVATION. 199 

tains free space enough to receive a rain-fall one inch 
in depth, and, by the same token, four feet of 
drained soil can receive twelve inches of rain, — 
more than is known to have ever fallen in twenty- 
four hours since the deluge, and more than one quar- 
ter of the annual rain-fall in the United States." * 

Of the precise profits of under-draining this is not 
the place to speak : many of the agricultural papers 
contain numerous accounts of its success. It may be 
well to remark here, that many English farmers 
give it, as their experience, that under-drains on 
heavy clay lands in ordinary cultivation, pay for 
themselves every three years, or that they produce a 
perpetual profit of 33J- per cent., on their original 
cost. This is not the opinion of theorists and look 
farmers. It is the conviction of practical men, who 
know, from experience, that under-drains are bene- 
ficial. 

The best evidence of the utility of under-drain- 
ing is the position, with regard to it, which has been 
taken by the English national government, which 
affords much protection to the agricultural interests 
of the people, — a protection which in this country is 
unwisely and unjustly withheld. 

In England, a very large sum from the public 
treasury has been appropriated as a fund for loans, 
on under-drains, which was lent to farmers for the 
purpose of under-draining their estates, the only 
security given being the increased value of the soil. 
The time allowed for payments was twenty years, 
* Draining for Profit and Health, p. 22. 



200 CULTIVATION. 

and only five per cent, interest is charged. By the 
influence of this patronage, the actual wealth of the 
kingdom has been rapidly increased, while the 
farmers themselves can raise their farms to the 
highest fertility, without immediate investment for 
draining. 

The best proof that the government has not acted 
injudiciously in this matter is, that private capitalists 
employ their money in the same manner, and loans 
on under-drains are considered a very safe invest- 
ment. 

One very important, though not strictly agricul- 
tural, effect of thorough drainage is its removal of 
certain local diseases, peculiar to the vicinity of 
marshy or low moist soils. The health-reports in 
several places in England, show that where fever and 
ague was once common, it lias almost entirely dis- 
appeared since the general use of under-drains in 
those localities. 



CHAPTEE IV. 



SUB-SOIL PLOWING. 



The subsoil plow is an implement differing in figure 
from the surface plow. It does not turn a furrow, 
but merely runs through the sub-soil like a mole — 
loosening and making it finer by lifting, but allow- 
ing it to fall back and occupy its former place. It 



CULTIVATION. 



201 



usually follows the surface plow, entering the soil to 
the depth of from eight to fifteen inches below the 
bottom of the surface furrow. 

The best pattern now made (the steel sub-soil 
plow) is represented in the following figure. 




Fig. 6. — Wrought Iron and Steel Sub-soil Plow. 

The sub-soil plows first made raised the whole soil 
about eight inches, and required very great power in 
their use, often six or eight oxen. The implement 
shown in the figure, raising the soil but slightly, may 
be worked with much less power, and produces 
equally good results. It may be run to a good 
depth in most soils by a single yoke of oxen. 

The motion of any part of the soil which is effected 

by this sub-soil plow is very slight, but it is exerted 

throughout the whole mass of the soil above the 

9* 



202 CULTIVATION. 

plow and for a considerable distance sideways tow- 
ard the surface. If the land is too wet, this motion 
will be injurious rather than beneficial, but if it is 
dry enough to crumble, it will be very much loosened. 
If we hold in the hand a ball of dry clay, and press 
it hard enough to produce the least motion among 
its particles, the whole mass becomes pulverized. 
On the same principle, the sub-soil plow renders the 
compact lower soil sufficiently fine for the entrance 
of roots. 

Notwithstanding its great benefits on land, which 
is sufficiently dry, sub-soiling cannot be recommended 
for wet lands ; for, in such case, the rains of a single 
season would often be sufficient to entirely overcome 
its effects by packing the sub-soil down to its former 
hardness. 

On lands not overcharged with water, it is produc- 
tive of the best results, it being often sufficient to 
turn the balance between a gaining and a losing 
business in farming. 

It increases nearly every effect of under-draining ; 
especially does it overcome drought, by loosening 
the soil, and admitting air to circulate among the 
particles of the sub-soil, arid deposit its moisture, on 
the principle described in the chapter on under- 
draining. 

It deepens the surface-soil, because it admits roots 
into the sub-soil where they decay and leave carbon, 
while the circulation of air so affects the mineral 
parts, that they become of a fertile character. As 
a majority of roots decay in the surface-soil, they 



CULTIVATION. 203 

there deposit much mineral matter obtained from 
the sub-soil, and thus render it richer. 

The retention of atmospheric manures is more 
fully insured by the better exposure of the clayey 
portions of the soil. 

The sub-soil often contains matters which are defi- 
cient in the surface-soil. By the use of the sub-soil 
plow, they are rendered available. 

Sub-soiling is similar to under-draining in continu- 
ing the tillering of grasses. 

When the sub-soil is a thin layer of clay on a sandy 
bed (as in many parts of the country), the sub-soil 
plow, by passing through it, opens a passage for water, 
and often affords a sufficient drainage. 

If plants will grow better on a soil six inches deep 
than on one of three inches, there is no reason why 
they should not be benefited in proportion, by disturb- 
ing the soil to the whole depth to which roots will 
travel — even to a depth of two feet. The minute 
rootlets of corn and most other plants will, if allow- 
ed by cultivation, occupy the soil to a greater depth 
than this, having a fibre in nearly every cubic inch of 
the soil for the whole distance. There are very few 
cultivated plants whose roots would not travel to a 
depth of thirty inches or more. Even the onion sends 
its roots to the depth of eighteen inches when the soil 
is well cultivated. 

The object of loosening the soil is to admit roots 
to a sufficient depth to hold the plant in its position, 
— to obtain the nutriment necessary to its growth, — 
to receive moisture from the lower portions of the 



201 CULTIVATION. 

soil, — and, if it be a bulb, tuber, or tap, to assume 
tlie form requisite for its largest development. 

It must be evident that roots, penetrating the soil 
to a depth of two feet, anchor the plant with greater 
stability than those which are spread more thinly 
near the surface. 

The roots of plants traversing the soil to such 
great distances, and being located in nearly every 
part, absorb mineral and other food, in solution in 
water, only through the spongioles at their ends. 
Consequently, by having these ends iji every part of 
the soil, it is all brought under contribution, and the 
amount supplied is greater, while the demand on any 
particular part may be less than when the whole re- 
quirements of plants have to be supplied from a depth 
of a few inches. 

The ability of roots to assume a natural shape in 
the soil, and grow to their largest size, must depend 
on the condition of the soil. If it is finely pulverized 
to the whole depth to which they ought to go, they 
will be fully developed ; while, if the soil be too hard 
for penetration, they will be deformed or small. Thus 
a parsnip may grow to the length of two and a half 
feet, and be of perfect shape, while, if it meet in its 
course, at a depth of eight or ten inches, a cold, hard 
sub-soil, its growth must be arrested, or its form in- 
jured. 

Roots are turned aside by a hard or wet sub-soil, 
as they would be if received by the surface of a plate 
of glass. 

Add to this the fact that cold, impenetrable sub- 



CULTIVATION. 205 

soils are chemically uncongenial to vegetation, and 
we have sufficient evidence of the importance, and 
in many cases the absolute necessity of sub-soiling 
and under-draining. 

It is unnecessary to urge the fact that a garden 
soil of two feet is more productive than a field soil 
of six inches ; and it is certain that proper attention 
to these two modes of cultivation will in a majority 
of cases make a garden of the field — more than doub- 
ling its value in ease of working, increased produce, 
certain security against drought, and more even distri- 
bution of the demands on the soil — while the outlay 
will be largely repaid by an immediate increase of 
crops. 

The sub-soil will be much improved in its charac- 
ter the first year, and a continual advancement ren- 
ders it in time equal to the original surface-soil, and 
extending to a depth of two feet or more. 

The sub-soil plow has come into very general use. 
The implement has ceased to be a curiosity ; and the 
man who now objects to its use, may be classed with 
him who shells his corn on a shovel over a half-bush- 
el, instead of employing an improved machine, which 
will enable him to do more in a day than he can do 
in the " good old way " in a week. 

In no case will the use of the sub-soil plow be found 
anything but satisfactory, except in occasional in- 
stances where there is some chemical difficulty in the 
sub-soil, which will be overcome by a year or two 
of exposure — and even such cases are extremely rare. 

As was before stated, its use on wet lands is not 



203 CULTIVATION. 

advisable until they have been under-drained, as 

excess of water prevents its effects from being per- 
manent. 



CHAPTER V. 

PLOWING AND OTHER PROCESSES FOR 
PULVERIZING THE SOIL. 

The advantages of pulverizing the soil, and the 
reasons why it is necessary, have been sufficiently 
explained to need no further remark. Few farmers, 
when they plow, dig, or harrow, are enabled to give 
substantial reasons for the operation. If they will re- 
flect on what has been said in the preceding chapters, 
concerning the supply of mineral food to the plant 
by the soil, and the effect of air and moisture about 
the roots, they will find more satisfaction in their 
Labor. 

PLOWING. 

The kind of plow used in cultivating the surface- 
soil, must be decided by the kind of soil. This 
question the practical, observing farmer will be able 
to solve. 

As a general rule, it may be stated that the plow 
which runs the deepest , with the same amount of 



CULTIVATION. 207 

force, is the best, but this rule is not without its 
exceptions. 

The advantages of deep plowing cannot be too 
strongly urged. 

The statement that the deeper and the finer the 
soil is rendered, the more productive it will become, 
is in eveiy respect true, and no single instance will 
contradict it. 

It must not be inferred from this, that we would 
advise a farmer, who has always plowed his soil to 
the depth of only six inches, to double the depth at 
once. Such a practice in some soils would be highly 
injurious, as it would completely bury the more fer- 
tile and better cultivated soil, and bring to the top 
one which contains no organic matter, and has never 
been subject to atmospheric influences. This would, 
perhaps, be so little fitted for vegetation that it 
would scarcely sustain plants until their roots could 
reach the more fertile parts below. Such treatment 
of the soil ( turning it upside down ) is excellent in 
garden culture, where the great amount of manures 
applied is sufficient to overcome the temporary bar- 
renness of the soil, but it is not to be recommended 
for all field cultivation, where much less manure is 
employed. 

The course to be pursued in such cases is to plow 
a little deeper each year. By this means the soil 
may be gradually deepened to any desired extent. 
The amount of uncongenial soil which will thus be 
brought up, is slight, and will not interfere at all 
with the fertility of the soil, while the elevated por- 



208 



CULTIVATION. 



tion will become, in a single year, so altered by ex- 
posure, that it will equal the rest of the soil in 
fertility. 

Often where lime has been used in excess, it has 
sunk to the sub-soil, where it remains inactive. A 
slight deepening of the surface plowing would mix 
this lime with the surface-soil, and render it again 
useful. 

When the soil is light and sandy, resting on a 
heavy clay sub-soil, or clay on sand, the bringing up 
of the mass from below will improve the texture of 
the upper parts. 

As an instance of the success of deep plowing, we 
call to mind the case of a farmer in New Jersey, 
who had a field which had yielded about twenty-five 
bushels of corn per acre. It had been cultivated at 
ordinary depths. After laying it out in eight-step 
lands (24 feet,) he plowed it at all depths from five 
to ten inches on the different lands, and sowed oats 
evenly over the whole field. The crop on the five 
inch soil was very poor, on the six inch rather better, 
on the seven inch better still, and on the ten inch 
soil it was as fine as ever grew in New Jersey ; it 
had stiff straw and broad leaves, while the grain 
was also much better than on the remainder of the 
field. 

There is an old anecdote of a man who died, leav- 
ing his sons with the information that he had buried 
a pot of gold for them, somewhere on the farm. 
They commenced digging for the gold, and dug over 
the whole farm to a great depth without finding the 






CULTIVATION. 209 

gold. The digging, however, so enriched the soil 
that they were folly compensated for their disap- 
pointment, and became wealthy from the increased 
produce of their farm. 

Farmers will find, on experiment, that they have 
gold buried in their soil, if they will but dig deep 
enough to obtain it. The law gives a man the own- 
ership of the soil for an indefinite distance from the 
surface, but few seem to realize that there is another 
farm below the one they are cultivating, which is 
quite as valuable as the one on the surface, if it were 
but properly worked. 

Fall plowing, especially for heavy lands, is the 
best means of securing the action of the frosts of 
winter to pulverize the soil. If it be a stiff clay, it 
will be well to throw the up-soil in high ridges ( by 
ridging and back-furrowing,) so as to expose the 
largest possible amount of surface to the freezing and 
thawing of winter. This, with the rotting of the 
sod, (which is thus made ready for the feeding 
of plants,) makes the effects of fall plowing almost 
universally beneficial. The earlier the plowing is 
done, the more thoroughly the sod is rotted and pre- 
pared for the nutrition of the crop of the next year. 

The great improvement of the age in the mechan- 
ical branch of agriculture, has been made in England, 
during the past ten or twelve years, in the application 
of the steam-engine to the work of cultivating the 
soil. It would be beyond the scope of a simple 
• elementary book like this to enter fully into a de- 
scription of the machinery by which this work is 



210 



CULTIVATION. 



done, and the method of its operation ; but it is worthy 
of remark, that there are now in use in England 
about 500 sets of the apparatus, and that the system 
has been in successful operation there for about a 
dozen years. A single engine (of 14 horse power) 
moves to the field on its own wheels, carrying the 
tackle with it, and plows an acre an hour with ease, 
or draws a deep cultivator through from three to five 
acres in an hour. The engine stands on one head- 
land, and a pulley- wheel on the other, an endless steel 
wire rope passes around a windlass under the engine, 
and around the pulley opposite. The gang of plows, 
or the w T ide cultivator, is drawn back and forth be- 
tween the two. 



THE HARROW AND CULTIVATOR. 

The harrow, an implement largely used in all 
parts of the world, to pulverize the soil, and break 
clods, has become so firmly rooted in the affections 
of farmers, that it must be a very long time before 
they can be convinced that it is not the best imple- 
ment for the use to which it is devoted. It is true 
that it pulverizes the soil for a depth of two or three 
inches, and thus much improves its appearance, bene- 
fiting it, without doubt, for the earliest stages of the 
growth of plants. Its action, however, is very defec- 
tive, because, from the wedge shape of its teeth, it 
continually acts to pack the soil ; thus — although 
favorable for the germination of the seed — it is not 
calculated to benefit the plant during the later stages 



CULTIVATION. 211 

of its growth, when the roots require the soil to be 
pulverized to a considerable depth. 

The cultivator may be considered an improved 
harrow , the principal difference between them being, 
that while the teeth of the harrow are pointed at 
the lower end, those of the cultivator are shaped 
like a small double plow, being large at the bottom 
and growing smaller toward the top. They lift 
the earth up, instead of pressing it downward, thus 
loosening instead of compacting the soil. 

Many styles of cultivators are now sold at agri- 
cultural warehouses. A very good one, for field use, 
may be made by substituting the cultivator teeth for 
the spikes in an old harrow frame. 



CHAPTEK VI. 

ROLLING, MULCHING, WEEDING, ETC. 

ROLLING. 

Rolling the soil with a large roller, drawn by 
a team, is in many instances a good accessory to cul- 
tivation. By its means, the following results are ob- 
tained : — 

1. The soil at the surface is pulverized without the 
compacting of the lower parts, the area of contact 
being large. 



212 CULTIVATION. 

2. The stones on the land are pressed down so as 
to be ont of the way of the mowing machine. 

3. The soil is compacted around seeds after sow- 
ing in such a manner as to exclude light and to touch 
them in every part, both of which are of essential 
advantage in their germination, and assist in giving 
them a good start. 

4. When the soil is smoothed in this manner, there 
is less surface exposed for the evaporation of water 
with its cooling effect. 

5. Light sandy lands, by being rolled in the fall, 
are rendered more compact, and the loosening effects 
of frequent freezing and thawing are lessened. 

G. The most important use of the roller is in com- 
pacting the earth about the roots of grass and grain 
crops early in the spring. The freezing and thaw- 
ing of winter leave them usually partly uncovered, 
or surrounded by air spaces. Their best growth re- 
quires that these roots be closely pressed by the earth, 
■ — and this pressure is given by the roller better than 
in any other way. 

If well under-drained, a large majority of soils 
would doubtless be benefited by a judicious use of the 
roller.* 

mulching. 

Mulching consists in covering the soil with salt 
hay, litter, seaweed, leaves, spent tanbark, chips, or 
other refuse matter. 

Every farmer must have noticed that, if a board or 

* Field rollers should be made in sections, for ease of turning. 






CULTIVATION. 213 

rail, or an old brush-heap, be removed in spring from 
soil where grass is growing, the grass afterward 
grows in those places much larger and better than 
in other parts of the field. 

This improvement arises from various causes. 

1. The evaporation of water from the soil is pre- 
vented during drought by the shade afforded by the 
mulch ; and it is therefore kept in better condition, 
as to moisture and temperature, than when evapora- 
tion goes on more freely. This condition is well cal- 
culated to advance the chemical changes necessary to 
prepare the matters — both organic and mineral — in 
the soil for the use of plants. 

2. A heavy mulch breaks the force of rains, and 
prevents them from compacting the soil, as would be 
the result were no such precaution taken. 

3. Mulching protects the surface-soil from freez- 
ing as readily as when exposed, and thus keeps it 
longer open for the admission of air and moisture. 
When unprotected, the soil early becomes frozen ; 
and all water falling, instead of entering, as it should 
do, passes off over the surface. 

5. The throwing out of winter grain is often pre- 
vented, because this is due to the frequent freezing 
and thawing of the surface-soil. 

6. When the wet surface-soil freezes, it is raised up, 
and the young plants growing in it are raised with 
it ; when the frost is thawed out, the soil falls back 
to its original position, while parts of the crowns or 
roots of the crop remain raised. The next freeze 
takes hold of them lower down, and lifts them again ; 



214 CULTIVATION. 

the next thaw leaves them higher than ever, — until in 
spring, sometimes, the crown of a shoot of wheat 
will be standing several inches above the level of 
the soil. The use of a mulch prevents both the 
freezing and the thawing from being so frequent and 
active as they would be if no protection were used. 

7. It also prevents the " baking " of the soil, or the 
formation of a crust. 

Nursery-men often keep the soil about the roots of 
young trees mulched continually. One of the chief 
arguments for this treatment is, that it prevents the 
removal of the moisture from the soil and the conse- 
quent loss of heat. Also that it keeps up a full sup- 
ply of water for the uses of the roots, because it keeps 
the surface of the soil cool, and causes a deposit of dew. 

It has been suggested, and is undoubtedly true, that 
a mulch on the ground, by affording a good shelter for 
minute (microscopic) insects, causes them to accumu- 
late in such quantities as to add (by their eggs, their 
excrement, and their dead bodies) to the fertilizing 
matter in the soil. How important this addition 
may be, we cannot of course know, but it is certain 
that mulching exercises greater good effect than can 
reasonably be attributed, in the present state of our 
knowledge, to any or all of the above described actions. 

It is the opinion of many, that at least one-half of 
the beneficial effect of seaweed, or coarse stable ma- 
nure, when used as a top dressing, is due to its action 
as a mulch. 

It is a good plan to sow oats very thinly over land 
intended for winter fallow, after the removal of crops, 



CULTIVATION. 215 

as they will grow a little before being killed by the 
frost, when they will fall down, thus affording a very 
beneficial mulch to the soil. 

"When farmers spread coarse manure on their fields 
in the fall to be plowed under in the spring, they ben- 
efit the land by the mulching, perhaps as much as by 
the addition of fertilizing matter, because they give 
it the protecting influence of the straw, etc. 

It is an old and true saying that " snow is the 
poor man's manure." One reason why it is so bene- 
ficial is, that it acts as a most excellent mulch. It 
contains no more ammonia than rain-water does ; 
and, were it not for the fact that it protects the soil 
against loss of heat, and produces other benefits of 
mulching, it would have no more advantageous effect. 
The severity of the winters at the North is largely 
compensated for by the long duration of snow. 

It is well known that when there is but little snow 
in cold countries, wheat is very liable to be winter 
hilled. An evenly spread mulch, and thorough 
draining, will greatly prevent this. 

This treatment is peculiarly applicable to the cul- 
tivation of flowers, both in pots and in beds out of 
doors. It is almost indispensable to the profitable 
production of strawberries, and many other garden 
crops, such as asparagus, rhubarb, etc. An excel- 
lent treatment for newly transplanted trees, is to put 
stones about their roots. A good mulching, by the 
use of leaves, copying the action of nature in forests, 
has nearly as good an effect ; for it is chiefly as a 
mulch that the stones are beneficial. 



216 CULTIVATION. 

WEEDING. 

If a farmer were asked — what is the use of weeds ? 
he might make oiit quite a list of their benefits, 
among which might be some of the following : — ■ 

1. They shade tender plants, and in a measure 
serve as a mulch to the ground. 

2. Some weeds, by their offensive odor, drive 
away many insects. 

3. They may serve as a green crop to be plowed 
into the soil, and increase its organic matter. 

4. They make us stir the soil, and thus increase 
its fertility. 

Still, while thinking out these excuses for weeds 
(all but the last of which are very feeble ones), he 
would see other and more urgent reasons why they 
should not be allowed to grow. 

1. They occupy the soil to the disadvantage of 
crops. 

2. They exclude light and heat from cultivated 
plants, and thus interfere with their growth. 

3. They take up mineral and other matters from 
the soil, and hold them during the growing season, 
thus depriving crops of their use. 

It is not necessary to argue the injury done by 
weeds. Every farmer is well convinced that they 
should be destroyed, and the best means of accom- 
plishing this is of the greatest importance. 

In the first place, we should protect ourselves against 
their increase. This may be done (in a measure) : — 

By decomposing all manures in compost, whereby 



CULTIVATION. 217 

many of the seeds contained will be killed by the 
heat of fermentation. 

By hoeing, or otherwise destroying growing weeds 
before they mature their seeds ; and 

By keeping the soil in the best chemical condition. 

This last point is one of much importance. It 
is well known that soils deficient in potash will 
naturally produce one kind of plants, while soils 
deficient in phosphoric acid will produce plants 
of another species, etc. Many soils produce certain 
weeds which would not grow on them spontaneously 
if they were fitted for the growth of better plants. 
It is also believed that those weeds, which naturally 
grow on the most fertile soils, are the ones most 
easily destroyed. There are exceptions (of which 
the Thistle is one), but this is given as a general rule. 

By careful attention to the foregoing points, 
weeds may be kept from increasing, while those 
already in the soil may be eradicated in various 
ways, chiefly by mechanical means, such as hoeing, 
plowing, etc. 

Prof. Mapes used to say, and experience often 
shows, that six bushels of salt annually sown broad- 
cast over each acre of land, will destrby very many 
weeds, as well as grubs and worms. 

The common hoe is a very imperfect tool for the 
purpose of removing weeds, as it prepares a better 
soil for, and replants in a position to grow, nearly as 
many weeds as it destroys. 

The scuffle-hoe (or push-hoe) is much more effec- 
tive, as, when worked by a man walking backward, 

10 



218 CULTIVATION. 

and retiring as lie works, it leaves nearly all of the 
weeds on the surface of the soil to be killed by the 
sun. When used in this way, the earth is not 
trodden on after being hoed — as is the case when 
the common hoe is employed. This treading, besides 
compacting the soil, covers the roots of many weeds, 
and causes them to grow again. 

The scuffle-hoe, however, except in very light soil, 
will not run so deeply as it is often desirable to 
loosen it, and must, in such cases, be superseded by 
the prong-hoe (or potato-hook), which is a capital sub- 
stitute for the common hoe in nearly all cases. 

Much of the labor of weeding usually performed 
by men, might be more cheaply done by horses. 
There are various implements for this purpose, some 
of which have come into very general use. 

One of the best of these is the Langdon Horse 
Hoe, which is a shovel-shaped plow, to be run one 
or two inches deep. It has a wing on each side to 
prevent the earth from falling on to the plants in the 
rows. At the rear, or upper edge, is a kind of rake 
or comb, which allows the earth to pass through, 
while the weeds pass over the comb and fall on the 
surface of tHe soil, to be killed by the heat of the 
sun. It is a simple and cheap tool, and will perform 
the work of twenty men with hoes. The hand hoe 
will be necessary only in the rows. 

CULTIVATORS. 

The cultivator, which was described in the pre- 
ceding chapter, and of which there are various pat- 



CULTIVATION. 



219 



terns in use, is excellent for" weeding and for loosen- 
ing the soil between the rows of corn, etc. The 
one called the universal cultivator, having its side 
bars made of iron, curved so that at whatever dis- 
tance it is placed the teeth will point straight for- 
ward, is a much better tool than those of the older 
patterns, which had the teeth so arranged that when 
set for wide rows, they pointed toward the clevis. 
It is difficult to keep such a cultivator in its place, 
while the " universal " is as difficult to move out of 
a straight line. 



IMPROVED HORSE-HOE. 

The improved (or Knox's) horse-hoe, is a combina- 




Fig. 7. 



tion of the " Langdon " horse-hoe and the cultivator, 
and is the best implement, for many purposes, that 
has yet been made. 

An excellent tool, called a Muller, is used in Rhode 



220 CULTIVATION. 

Island. It consists of a stick of heavy wood, five or 
six feet long and about three inches by six inches in 
size, drawn by fastening one trace to each end, having 
stilts or handles rising from the upper side, and two 
rows of sharpened iron teeth six inches long on the 
under side — the front row of teeth point forward, and 
the rear row backward. It is a " horse-rake" for the 
ground, and leaves it as fine as a hand-rake would, 
while it works it much more deeply. 

One of the best cultivators that it is possible to use 
between rows of corn — or other plants — is a small 
sub-soil plow of the kind shown on p. 201, drawn by 
one horse, and running five or six inches deep. It 
mellows the land deeply and thoroughly. 



There is much truth in the following proverbs : 
" A garden that is well kept, is kept easily." 
" You must conquer weeds, or weeds will conquer 
you." 

"The best time to kill weeds is before they come 
up." 

It is almost impossible to give a recapitulation of 
the matters treated in this section, as it is, itself, but 
an outline of subjects which might occupy our whole 
book. The scholar and the farmer should understand 
every principle which it contains as well as they un- 
derstand the multiplication table ; and their applica- 
tion will be found, in every instance, to produce the 
best results. 



CULTIVATION. 221 

The two great rules of mechanical cultivation 
are — 

Thorough under-draining. 

Deep and frequent disturbance of the soil. 



SECTION FIFTH. 

ANALYSIS. 



SECTION FIFTH. 

ANALYSIS. 



CHAPTEK I. 



At the time when this book was first written, in 
1853, it was the very general opinion of scientific, 
and of many practical, men, that it was within the 
power of the chemist, by separating the different 
parts of the soil, weighing each, to determine wheth- 
er the soil were fertile or barren ; how long it might 
continue fertile without the use of manure ; what 
manures were best suited to restoring or preserving 
its fertility ; and what class of plants it was best fit- 
ted to produce. 

In this belief, these pages were devoted, very large- 
ly, to showing the farmer how he could best regulate 
his operations in the light of such teachings as soil 
analysis gives. 

As is often the case in the adoption of new discov- 
eries, a further acquaintance with the subject showed 

10* 



226 ANALYSIS. 

that, so far as the processes of practical agriculture are 
concerned, soil analysis is of but little, if any, value. 
True, the amount of potash, for instance, which is 
contained in the soil, may be determined with great 
precision, and it seemed, at first, that this sort of 
knowledge was enough for practical use ; but further 
research and reasoning have shown that the question 
of quantity is of no more consequence than the 
question of condition. Of the potash in the soil 
only the -j-J-g- or the ■ L0 1 0o part is available to the 
plants of a single year's growth ; — why the other 99, 
or 999 parts are not available, and how they may be 
made so, the soil analysis, from which so much was 
hoped for, does not tell us. 

The causes of fertility and barrenness lie beyond 
the reach of weight and measure, and it is an unfor- 
tunate truth that, aside from a very simple indica- 
tion of the internal character of our soils, the science 
of chemistry can only help us in studying their char- 
acter when we follow it through the by-ways of its 
more subtle reasoning. Much of what is known of 
the manner in which the soil gives nutriment to the 
plant has been learned from the bringing together of 
the results of many experiments, — studying them by 
the light of what chemistry has positively taught. 
This knowledge is of great value, and is sufficient 
to form the foundation of a really scientific agricul- 
ture ; but there is no doubt that much more is yet to 
be learned, and that we are still very far from know- 
ing all that we must know of the use of manures, 
the functions of the soil, and the growth of plants. 



ANALYSIS. 227 

While waiting for its further instruction, let us make 
the best possible use of what chemistry now teaches 
with certainty, in the analysis of the ashes of plants, 
and of manures. 

Practice and science have combined to show us 
how all soils may be raised to a high, possibly to the 
highest, state of fertility, and a knowledge of the 
composition of crops and manures shows how we 
may best maintain its good condition. 

The (me safe rule for all farmers to adopt is the 
following : — 

Always return in the earthy constituents of 
manure the full equivalent of the earthy con- 
stituents of the crop. 

This will prevent the soil from deteriorating, and 
we may safely trust to the process of cultivation, and 
to the action of atmospheric influences, to make it 
yearly better, by developing fresh supplies of its ash- 
forming parts. 



228 



ANALYSIS. 



CHAPTEE n. 

TABLES OF ANALYSIS. 

ANALYSES OF THE ASHES OF CEOPS. 

No. L 





Wheat. 


Wheat 
Straw. 


Eye. 


Eye 

Straw. 




20 


60 


24 


40 


Silica (sand) 


16 
28 

120 
7 

23*7 
91 

3 

498 


654 
67 
33 
13 
124 
" 2 
11 
58 
31 


5 

50 

104 

14 

221 

116 

10 
496 


645 


Peroxide of Iron 


91 
24 
14 




174 




3 


Chlorine 


5 


Sulphuric Acid 


8 




38 







No. II. 



Ashes in 1000 dry parts 

Silica (sand) 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Peroxide of Iron 

Oxide of Manganese 

Potash 

Soda 

Chlorine 

Sulphuric Acid , 

Phosphoric Acid 



Corn. 



15 



Corn 

Stalks. 



44 



15 


270 


15 


86 


162 


66 


3 


8 


261 


96 


63 


277 


2 


20 


23 


5 


449 


171 



Barley. 



28 



271 
26 
75 
15 

136 

81 

1 

1 

389 



Barley 
Straw. 



61 



706 

95 

32 

7 

1 

62 

6 

10 

16 

31 



ANALYSIS. 



229 



No. III. 



Ashes in 1000 dry parts 

Silica (sand) 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Peroxide of Iron 

Potash 

Soda 

Chlorine 

Sulphuric Acid 

Phosphoric Acid 

Organic Matter 



Oats. 


Oat 

Straw. 


Buck 
Wheat. 


20 


51 


21 


7 


484 


7 


60 


81 


67 


99 


38 


104 


4 


18 


11 


j 262 I 


191 
97 


87 
201 


3 


32 




104 


33 


22 


438 


27 


500 



Po- 
tatoes. 



90 



42 
21 
53 

5 

557 

19 

43 
137 
126 

750 
Water. 



No. IT. 





Peas. 


Beans. 


Turnips. 


Turnip 
Tops. 


Ashes in 1000 dry parts 


25 


27 


76 


170 




5 
53 
85 
10 

361 
91 
23 
44 

333 


12 

58 

80 

6 

336 

106 

7 

10 
378 


71 
128 

48 

9 

398 

108 

37 
131 

67 
870 Water. 


8 




233 




31 




8 




286 


Soda 


54 




160 




125 




93 











230 



ANALYSIS. 



No. V. 





Flax. 


Linseed. 


Meadow 
Hay. 


Eed 
Clover. 




50 


46 


60 


75 


Alumina {clay) 


257 

37? 
148 

44 

36? 
117 
118 

29 

32 
130 


75 

83 

146 

9 

240 

45 

2 

23 

365 


344 

196 

78 

7 

236 
19 
28 
29 
58 


48 




371 


Maernesia 


46 


Peroxide of Iron 


2 


Potash 


267 


Soda, -. 


71 




48 




60 


Phosphoric Acid 


88 







No. VI. 



Amount of Inorganic Matter removed from the soil by ten bushels of 
grains, etc., and by the straw, etc., required in their production 
— estimated in pounds : 



Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Oxide of Iron 
Sulphuric Acid. . . 
Phosphoric Acid . . 

Chlorine 

Silica 

Pounds carried off. 



Wheat. 



2.86 

1.04 
.34 

1.46 
.08 
.03 

6.01 

.14 



12 



1200 lbs. 
Wheat 
Straw. 



8.97 

.12 

4.84 

2.76 

.94 

4.20 

2.22 

.79 

47.16 



72 



Eye. 



2.51 

1.33 
.56 

1.18 
.15 
.11 

5.64 

.05 



ni 



1620 lbs. 

Eye 
Straw. 



11.34 

.20 

5.91 

1.58 

.88 

.05 

2.49 

.30 

42.25 






66 



ANALYSIS. 



231 



No. VIL 





Corn. 


1620 lbs. 

Corn 
Stalks. 


Oats. 


700 lbs. 

Oat 
Straw. 




2.78 

.12 
1.52 

4.52 
.06 


6.84 

19.83 

6.02 

4.74 

.57 

.36 

12.15 

1.33 

19.16 


1.69 

.39 
.64 
.02 
.66 
2.80 
.02 
.18 


12.08 


Soda 






3.39 
1.59 




.78 




1.41 
1.07 




1.36 




20.32 






Pounds carried off 


9 


71 


H 


42 







No. VIII. 





Buck 
Wheat. 


Barley. 


660 bbls. 
Barley 
Straw. 


2000 lbs. 
Flax. 


Potash 


1.01 

2.13 
■ .78 

1.20 
.14 
.25 

5.40 

.09 


1.90 
1.18 

.96 

1.00 
.20 
.01 

5.35 
.01 

3.90 


2.57 
.23 

3.88 

1.31 
.90 
.66 

1.25 

.40 

28.80 


11.78 


Soda 


11.82 


Lime 


11.85 




9.38 


Oxide of Iron 4 


7.32 




3.19 




13.05 




2.90 




25.71 








11 


14 


40 


100 







232 



ANALYSIS. 



No. IX 





Beans. 


1120 lbs. 

Bean 

Straw. 


Field 
Peas. 


1366 lbs. 

Pea 

Straw. 


Potash 


5.54 

1.83 

98.98 

.28 

.10 

.16 

7.80 

.13 

.18 


36.28 

1.09 

13.60 

4.55 

.20 

.64 

5.00 

1.74 

4.90 


5.90 
1.40 

.81 
1.30 

.15 

.64 
5.50 

.23 
.7 


3.78 


Soda 






43.93 


Magnesia 


5.50 


Oxide of Iron 


1.40 


Sulphuric Acid 


5.43 


Phosphoric Acid 


3.86 


Chlorine 


.08 


Silica 


16.02 






Pounds carried off 


17 


68 


16 


80 







No. X. 



Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Oxide of Iron. . . . 
Sulphuric Acid. . . 
Phosphoric Acid . . 

Chlorine 

Silica 

Pounds carried off. 



lTon 
Turnips. 



7.14 
.86 

2.31 
.91 
.23 

2.30 

1.29 
.61 

1.36 



17 



635 lbs. 

Turnip 

Tops. 



4.34 

.84 

3.61 

.48 

.13 

1.81 

1.31 

2.35 

.13 



15 



lTon 
Potatoes. 



27.82 
.93 
1.03 
2 63 
.26 
6.81 
6 25 
2.13 
2.14 



50 



2000 lbs. 

Red 
Clover. 



31.41 
8.34 

43.77 

5.25 

.23 

7.05 

10.28 
5.86 
5.81 



118 



ANALYSIS. 



233 



No. XI. 



Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Oxide of Iron. . . . 
Sulphuric Acid. . . 
Phosphoric Acid., 

Chlorine 

Silica 

Pounds carried off. 



2000 lbs. 


2000 lbs. 


Meadow 


Cabbage. 


Hay. 


Water 9-10 


18.11 


5.25 


1.35 


9.20 


22.95 


9.45 


6.75 


2.70 


1.69 


.25 


2.70 


9.60 


5.97 


5.60 


2.59 


2.60 


37.89 


.35 



100 



45 



No. xn. 

Composition of Ashes, leached and unleached, showing their manurial 
value : 





Oak 
unleached. 


Oak 
leached. 


Beech 
unleached. 


Beech 
leached. 


Potash 


84 
56 
750 
45 
6 
12 
35 


548 
6 

8 


158 

29 

634 

113 

8 

14 

81 

2 










426 




70 




15 


Sulphuric Acid 






57 











234 



ANALYSIS. 






No. XIII. 



Potash , 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Oxide of Iron . . 
Sulphuric Acid. 
Phosphoric Acid 
Chlorine 



Birch 
leached. 



522 

30 

5 

43 



Seaweed 
unleached. 



180 

210 

94 

99 

3 

248 

52 

98 



Bitumin- 
ous Coal 
unleached. 



2 

2 

21 

2 

40 
9 
2 

1 



No. XIV. 

TOBACCO. 

Analysis of the ash of the Plant [Will & Fresenius] — 

Potash 19.55 

Soda 0.27 

Magnesia 11.07 

Lime 48.68 

Phosphoric Acid 3.66 

Sulphuric Acid 3.29 

Oxide of Iron 2.99 

Chloride of Sodium 3.54 

Loss 6.95 



100.00 



Analysis of the ash of the Root [Berthier] — 

Soluble Matter 12.3 

Insoluble Matter 87.7 

The Soluble parts consist of nearly — 

Carbonic Acid 10.0 

Sulphuric Acid 10.3 

Muriatic Acid (Chlorine, &c.) 18.26 

Potash and Soda 61.44 



100.00 



ANALYSIS. 



235 



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ANALYSIS. 



237 



No. XVII. 

Amount of Ash left after burning 1000 lbs. of various plants, ordina 
rily dry: 

its straw- 



Wheat 

Barley 

Oats 

Rye 

Indian Corn 

Pea 

Bean 

Meadow Hay 

Clover " 

Rye Grass " 

Potato 

Turnip 

Carrot 



20 
30 
40 
20 
15 
30 
30 
60 
90 
95 
8 
5 
15 



50 
50 
60 
40 
50 
50 



to 100 



to 15 
to 8 
to 20 



No. XVIII. 
MANURES. 

HORSE MANURE. 

Solid Dung — 

Combustible Matter 19.68 

Ash 3.07 

Water 77.25 

Composition of the Ash — 10.000 

Silica 62.40 

Potash 11.30 

Soda 1.98 

Oxide of Iron 1.17 

Lime 4.63 

Magnesia 3.84 

Oxide of Manganese. 2.13 

Phosphoric Acid 10.49 

Sulphuric Acid 1.89 

Chlorine 0.03 

Loss 0.14 



100.00 



238 ANALYSIS. 

NO. XIX. 

NIGHT SOIL. 

Solid (Ash) - 

Earthy Phosphates, and a trace of Sulphate of Lime 100 

Sulphate of Soda and Potash, and Phosphate of Soda. ... 8 

Carbonate of Soda 8 

Silica 16 

Charcoal and Loss 18 

150 

Urine — 

Urea* 30.10 

Uric Acid 1.00 

Sal Ammoniac* 1.50 

Lactic Acid, etc 1*7.14 

Mucus 32 

Sulphate of Potash 3.71 

Sulphate of Soda 3.16 

Phosphate of Ammonia* 1.65 

Earthy Phosphates 3.94 

Salt (Chloride of Sodium) : 4.45 

Silica 0.03 

6*7.00 
Water 933.00 



* Supply Ammonia. 



1000.00 



No. XX. 

COW MANURE. 

Solid (Ash)— 

Phosphates 20.9 

Peroxide of Iron 8.8 

Lime 1.5 

Sulphate of Lime (Plaster) 3.1 

Chloride of Potassium trace 

Silica 63.7 

Loss 2.0 

100.0 



ANALYSIS. 239 



id Matter. 




Inorganic. 


Total, 


7.6 


31 


33. 


60 


20. 


10 


18. 


74 


12. 


40 



No. XXI. 

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF THE URINE OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS. 



Organic. 

Man 23.4 

Horse 27. 

Cow 50. 

Pig 56. 

Sheep 28. 



No. XXII. 

GUANO. 

"Water 6.40 

Ammonia 2.71 

Uric Acid 34.70 

Oxalic Acid, etc 26.79 

Fixed Alkaline Salts. 

Sulphate of Soda 2.94 

Phosphate of Soda 48 

Chloride of Sodium (salt) 86 

Earthy Salts. 

Carbonate of Lime 1.36 

Phosphates 19.24 

Foreign Matter. 

Silicious grit and sand 4.52 

100.00 



Composition of Fresh Farm-yard Manure, (composed of Horse, Pig, 
and Cow Dung, about 14 days old). Analysis made Nov. 3d. 1854, 
by Dr. Augustus Voelcker, Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Ag- 
ricultural College, Cirencester, England : 

Water 66.17 

Soluble Organic Matter 2.48 

* Soluble Inorganic Matter (Ash) — 

Soluble Silica (silicic acid) 237 

Phosphate of Lime 299 

Lime 066 

Magnesia 011 

Potash 573 

* Containing Nitrogen 149 

Equal to Ammonia .181 



240 ANALYSIS. 

Chloride of Sodium 030 

Carbonic Acid and loss 218 

154 

♦insoluble Organic Matter 25.76 

Insoluble Inorganic Matter (Ash) — 

Soluble Silica ( .,. . ., ) 967 

Insoluble Silica \ 8lllclc acid \ 561 

Oxide of Iron, Alumina, with Phosphates 596 

(Containing Phosphoric Acid, .118) 
(Equal to bone earth, .386) 

.Lime 1.120 

Magnesia 143 

Potash 099 

Soda 019 

Sulphuric Acid 061 

Carbonic Acid and loss 484 

4.05 



100.00 
According to this analysis one ton (2,000 lbs.) Farm-yard Manure con- 
tains — 

Soluble Silica (silicic acid) 24 lbs. 

Ammonia (actual or potential) 1 5| 

Phosphate of Lime 13^- 

Lime 23j 

Magnesia. . 3£ 

Potash 13£ 

Soda if 

Common Salt & 

Sulphuric Acid 2£ 

Water 1323| 

Woody Fibre, etc. 579 

Of course no two samples of Farm-yard Manure are exactly of the 
same composition. That analyzed by Dr. Yoelcker was selected 
with much care, as representing a fair average. 



GREEN SAND MARL ( OF NEW JERSEY). 

Protoxide of Iron 15.5 

Alumina 6.9 

Lime 5.3 

Magnesia 1.6 

Potash 4.8 

* Containing Nitrogen 494 

Equal to Ammonia .599 

The whole Manure contains Ammonia in a free state 034 

" ' " " " in the form of salts 088 



ANALYSIS. 241 

Soluble Silica 32.4 

Insoluble Silica and Sand 19.8 

Sulphuric Acid .6 

Phosphoric Acid 1.3 

"Water 8.0 

Carbonic Acid, etc 3.8 

100.0 
This is an average of three analyses copied from Prof. Geo. H. Cook's 
report of the Geology of New Jersey. According to this estimate 
one ton (2000 lbs.) of Green Sand Marl contains — 

Lime 106 lbs. 

Magnesia 32 " 

Potash 96 " 

Soluble Silicic Acid 648 " 

Sulphuric Acid 12 " 

Phosphoric Acid 26 " 

(Equal to Phosphate of Lime 56^ lbs.) 

For the analysis of fertile and barren soils, see page 63. 
11 



THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 



THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 



Who is the practical farmer f Let us look at two 
pictures and decide. 

Here is a farm of 100 acres iu ordinary condition. 
It is owned and tilled by a hard-working man, who, 
in the busy season, employs one or two assistants. 
The farm is free from debt, but it does not produce 
an abundant income ; therefore, its owner cannot 
afford to purchase the best implements or make 
other needed improvements ; besides, he don't 
believe in such things. His father was a good solid 
farmer; so was his grandfather; and so is he, or 
he thinks he is. He is satisfied that " the good old 
way " is best, and he sticks to it. He works from 
morning till night ; from spring till fall. In the 
winter he rests, as much as his lessened duties will 
allow. During this time, he reads little, or nothing. 
Least of all does he read about farming. He don't 
want to learn how to dig potatoes out of a book. 
Book farming is nonsense. Many other similar ideas 
keep him from agricultural reading. His house is 
comfortable, and his barns are quite as good as his 



216 THE TEACTICAL FARMER. 

neighbors', while his farm gives him a living. It 
is true that his soil does not produce as much as it 
did ten years ago ; but prices are better, and he is 
satisfied. 

Let us look at his premises, and see how his affairs 
are managed. First, examine the land. Well, it is 
good fair land. Some of it is a little springy, but it 
is not to be called wet. When first laid down, it will 
produce a ton and a half of hay to the acre — it used 
to produce two tons. There are some stones on the 
land, but not enough, in his estimation, to do harm. 
The plowed fields are pretty good ; they will produce 
35 bushels of corn, 13 bushels of wheat, or 30 bushels 
of oats per acre, when the season is not dry. His 
father used to get more ; but, somehow, the weather 
is not so favorable as it was in old times. He has 
thought of raising root crops, but they take more 
labor than he can afford to hire. Over in the back 
part of the land there is a muck-hole, which is the 
only piece of worthless land on the whole farm. 

Now, let us look at the barns and barn-yards. 
The stables are pretty good. There are some wide 
cracks in the siding, but they help to ventilate, and 
make it healthier for the cattle. The manure is 
thrown out of the back windows, and is left in piles 
under the eaves of the barn. - The rain and sun make 
it nicer to handle. The cattle have to go some dis- 
tance for water ; and this gives them exercise. All 
of the cattle are not kept in the stable ; the fatten- 
ing stock are kept in the various fields, where hay is 
fed out to them from the stack. The barn-yard is 



THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 247 

often occupied by cattle, and is covered with their 
manure, which lies there until it is carted on to the 
land. In the shed are the tools of the farm, consist- 
ing of carts, plows — not deep plows: this farmer 
thinks it best to have roots near the surface of the 
soil where they can have the benefit of the sun's heat, 
— a harrow, hoes, rakes, etc. These tools are all in 
good order; and, unlike those of his less prudent 
neighbor, they are protected from the weather. 

' The crops are cultivated with the plow and hoe, as 
they have been since the land was cleared, and as 
they always will be until this man dies. 

Here is the ' practical farmer ' of the present day* 
Hard working, out of debt, and economical, — of dol- 
lars and cents, if not of soil and manures. He is a 
better farmer than two-thirds of the three million 
farmers in the country. He is one of the best farm- 
ers in his town — there are but few better in the 
county, not many in the State. He represents the 
better average class of his profession. 

With all this, he is, in matters relating to his busi- 
ness, an unreading, unthinking man. He knows 
nothing of the first principles of farming, and is suc- 
cessful by the indulgence of nature, not because he 
understands her, and is able to make the most of her 
assistance. 

This is an unpleasant fact, but it is one which 
cannot be denied. "We do not say this to disparage 
the farmer, but to arouse him to a realization of his 
position, and of his power to improve it. 

But let us see where he is wron^. 



248 THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 

He is wrong in thinking that his land does not 
need draining. He is wrong in being satisfied with 
one and a half tons of hay to the acre when he might 
easily get two and a half. He is wrong in not 
removing as far as possible every stone that can 
interfere with the deep and thorough cultivation of 
his soil. He is wrong in reaping less than his father 
did, when he should get more. He is wrong in as- 
cribing to the weather, and similar causes, what is 
due to the actual impoverishment of his soil. He is 
wrong in not raising turnips, carrots, and other 
roots, which his winter stock so much need, when 
they might be raised at a cost of less than one-third 
of their value as food. He is wrong in considering 
worthless a deposit of muck, which is a mine of 
wealth if properly employed. He is wrong in 
ventilating his stables at the cost of heat. He is 
wrong in his treatment of his manures, for he loses 
more than one half of their value from evaporation, 
fermentation, and leaching. He is wrong in not 
having water at hand for his cattle — their exercise 
detracts from their accumulation of fat and the 
economy of their heat, and it exposes them to cold. 
He is wrong in not protecting his fattening stock from 
the cold of winter ; for, under exposure to cold, the 
food, which would otherwise be used in the forma- 
tion of fat, goes to the production of the animal heat 
necessary to counteract the chilling influence of the 
weather, p. 44. He is wrong in allowing his manure 
to lie unprotected in the barn-yard. He is wrong 
in not adding to his tools the deep surface plow, the 



THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 249 

sub-soil plow, the cultivator, and many other imple- 
ments of improved construction. He is wrong in 
cultivating with the plow and hoe, those crops which 
could be better or more cheaply managed with the 
cultivator or horse-hoe. He is wrong in many things 
more, as we shall see if we examine all of his yearly 
routine of work. He is right in a few things ; and 
but a few, as he himself would admit, had he that 
knowledge of his business which he could obtain in 
the leisure hours of a single winter. Still he thinks 
himself a practical farmer. In twenty years, we 
shall have fewer such, for our young men have the 
mental capacity and mental energy necessary to raise 
them to the highest point of practical education, and 
to that point they are gradually but surely rising. 
We have far fewer now than twenty years ago. 

Let us now place this same farm in the hands of 
an educated and understanding cultivator; and at 
the end of five years, look at it again : 

He has sold one half of it, and cultivates but fifty 
acres. The money for which the other fifty were 
sold has been used in the improvement of the farm. 
The land has all been under-drained, and shows the 
many improvements consequent on such treatment. 
The stones and small rocks have been removed, leav- 
ing the surface of the soil smooth, and allowing the 
use of the sub-soil plow, which, with the under-drains, 
has more than doubled the productive power of the 
farm. Sufficient labor is employed to cultivate with 
improved tools, extensive root crops, and they invari- 
ably give a large yield. The grass land produces a 

11* 



250 THE PRACTICAL FARMER-. 

yearly average of 2-J tons of hay per acre. From 80 
to 100 bushels of corn, 30 bushels of wheat, and 45 
bushels of oats are the average of the crops reaped. 
The soil has been put in the best possible condition, 
while it is regularly supplied with manures containing 
everything taken away in the abundant crops. The 
principle that all earthy matters sold away must be 
bought back again, is never lost sight of in the regu- 
lation of crops and the application of manures. The 
tvorthless muck-bed was retained, and is made worth 
a dollar a load to the compost-heap, especially as the 
land requires an increase of organic matter. A new 
barn has been built large enough to store all of the 
hay produced on the farm. It has stables, which 
are tight and warm, and are well ventilated above the 
cattle. The stock being thus protected from the 
loss of their heat, give more milk, and make more 
fat on a less amount of food than they did under the 
old system. Water is near at hand, and the animals 
are not obliged to over-exercise. The manure is 
carefully composted, either under a shed constructed 
for the purpose with a tank and pump, or is thrown 
into the cellar below, where the hogs mix it with a 
large amount of muck, which has been carted in 
after being thoroughly decomposed by the lime and 
salt mixture. 

They are thus protected against all loss, and are 
prepared for the immediate use of crops. JSTo ma- 
nures are allowed to lie in the barn-yard, but they 
are all early removed to the compost heap, where 
they are preserved by being mixed with carbona- 



THE PRACTICAL FARMER. 251 

ceous matter. In the tool shed, we find deep sur- 
face-plows, sub-soil plows, cultivators, horse-hoes, 
seed-drills, and many other valuable implements. 

This farmer takes one or more agricultural papers, 
from which he learns new methods of cultiva- 
tion, while his knowledge of the reasons of various 
agricultural effects enables him to discard the injudi- 
cious suggestions of mere booh fanners aud unedu- 
cated dreamers. 

Here are two specimen farmers. Neither descrip- 
tion is over-drawn. The first is much more care- 
ful in his operations than the majority of our rural 
population. The second is no better than many who 
may be found in America. 

We appeal to the common sense of the reader of 
this work to know which of the two is the practical 
farmer — let him imitate either, as his judgment 
shall dictate. 



FLNIS. 



EXPLANATION OF TERMS. 



Absorb — to soak up a liquid or gas, or to take substances from 
air or from watery solutions. 

Abstract — to take from. 

Acid — sour ; a sour substance. 

Agriculture — the art of cultivating the soil. 

Alkali — the direct opposite of an acid, with which it has a ten- 
dency to unite. 

Alumina — the base of clay. 

Analysis — separating into its primary parts any compound sub- 
stance. 

Carbonate — a compound, consisting of carbonic acid and an 
alkali. 

Caustic — burning. 

Chloride — a compound containing chlorine. 

Clevis— that part of a plow by which the drawing power is at- 
tached. 

Decompose — to separate the constituents of a body from their 
combinations, forming simple substances into new com- 
pounds. 

Digestion — the decomposition of food in the stomach and in- 
testines of animals (agricultural). 

Dew— deposit of the insensible vapor of the atmosphere on cold 
surfaces. 

Excrement — the matter given out by the organs of plants and 
animals, being those parts of their food which they are una- 
ble to assimilate. 

Fermentation — a kind of decomposition. 

Gas — air — aeriform matter. 

Ingredient — component part. 



